Colossians chapter 4 verse 1, the Bible reads, Masters, give unto your servants that which
is just and equal, knowing that ye also have a master in heaven.
Now this verse, talking about the relationship between a master and a servant is interesting
because a lot of the modern Bible versions will actually change the word servant unto
slave in the Bible.
Have you ever noticed that?
Sometimes the modern versions and even popular preachers today have written books that even
have slave in the title and talk about how we are slaves of Christ and in Romans 1, 1
it'll say for example that Paul, the Apostle Paul is Jesus Christ's slave.
And a lot of people will also say the Bible teaches slavery.
Have you ever had atheists and people tell you, well the Bible teaches slavery, the Bible
doesn't.
But here's what's interesting.
In your King James Bible, you'll never find the word slave one time.
So I don't know where they're getting this that the Bible is just constantly talking
about slavery.
If you have one of these new perversions of the Bible, it does.
But if you notice here, it says, Masters, give unto your servants that which is just
and equal, knowing that ye also have a master in heaven.
So therefore, our relationship with Christ as being his servants and he's our master
is likened unto the relationship between masters and servants on this earth.
And notice what it's saying here, give unto your servants that which is just and equal.
So are these people that are just slaving away and working for free?
Some that we would think of as a slave, you know, somebody who's not getting paid at all,
somebody who has no freedom.
Go over to Ephesians if you would, flip back just a few pages.
Keep your finger there in Colossians.
There's a parallel passage in Ephesians chapter 6 where the Bible reads in verse 5, servants
be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling
and singleness of your heart as unto Christ.
Not with I service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of
God from the heart, with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that
whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be
bond or free.
And ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening, knowing that your
master also is in heaven, neither is there respect of persons with them.
So when we look at this description here of servants and masters in Ephesians 6, and then
we look at the passage in Colossians 4 verse 1, this is a similar relationship that we're
reading about to what we would consider an employer and an employee.
Now I realize that in the Old Testament there were indentured servants that would be a servant
for three years or for six years where they are giving up a lot of freedom, but in this
passage here, when we look at the description of a servant here, we see that this is somebody
that's like a modern day employee.
I mean this is somebody where they're being paid and what God is saying in verse 1 of
Colossians chapter 4 is that employers or masters should give unto their employees or
their servants that which is just and equal.
What does that mean?
That means that as a business owner, you should not seek to just pay people as little as you
can possibly get away with paying someone, right?
You shouldn't just say, okay, what's the least that I can possibly get away with paying someone
to do this job?
Instead, you should rather think, you know, what is a fair wage for this job?
What is a just wage?
What is a fair price for the work that I'm getting out of this person?
What is a good wage that matches the work that's being done?
And that's what the Bible's commanding masters here, to be fair and to treat people fairly
and to pay them well and to pay their employees well.
And it says, knowing that you also have a master in heaven, if we compare that with
Ephesians 6, it said the same thing about our master in heaven.
What does that tell us?
It's not saying that we're Jesus Christ's slaves because Jesus even told his disciples,
he said, I've called you no more servant, I've called you friends.
The servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth, but I've told you all things.
So if anything, we're closer to the friend side of being a servant than the slave side
of being a servant, because the word servant could encompass a spectrum of, you know, one
who's fully indentured, one who has just completely lost all freedom, to being one who is just
very loosely employed, okay?
And we see here that Jesus considers us friends, not his slaves.
But here's the important thing, when we look at Colossians 4.1, he's saying, give your
servants that which is just and equal, just like I give my servants.
And there's a doctrine all throughout the New Testament that's very consistent that
God will reward us for the works that we do for him.
So just as the servant gets paid by his master, the Bible is very clear that any good work
that we do, the Bible says, the same shall we receive from the Lord whether we be under
free.
Jesus Christ talked about it when he said about that one sows and another waters and
another reaps, when we talk about getting people saved, Jesus Christ talked about the
field being white unto harvest and us reaping a great harvest, and he said that we've entered
into other men's labors, meaning other people have sown seeds, other people have watered,
and he said this, he that gathereth, meaning the one who goes out and wins people to Christ,
he that gathereth, he said, is reaping wages unto eternal life, okay?
And God said that he is coming quickly and his reward is with him to give unto his servants
according as their work shall be.
So God will reward us for the work that we do.
Why is that so important?
Because salvation is not of works.
Salvation's a free gift.
Now if we went out and did a bunch of works for God and God said, well I'm not going to
pay you because you've already got salvation, that would almost be like we were paying off
our salvation, like we were earning our salvation, do you see what I mean?
You know, if God said, well I'll save you for free, and then we went out and did works
and that was just kind of applied toward paying off the debt that we owe Christ because of
our salvation.
Just to make sure that we understand that salvation is a free gift with no strings attached,
not only does he save us for free, but then he says, if you do work for me, I'll give
you wages, I'll pay you.
I will reward you, I will reward every man according as his work shall be.
He's an employer in a sense, just as the earthly employer and employee is discussed in Colossians
4.1.
So this doctrine of us being Christ's slave is not legit, that's not a biblical doctrine,
that's not the right wording to use.
It's not the biblical wording and it does not, it does not describe the relationship
that we have with Jesus Christ as master and servant and really as friend with friend.
It says in verse number 2, continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving with
all praying also for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery
of Christ for which I am also in bond.
So he's telling us continue in prayer, similar to the statement pray without ceasing.
He says watch in the same with thanksgiving.
What does the word watch normally mean when we see it throughout the Bible?
Stay awake, right?
When they're falling asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane, he says what?
Could you not watch with me for one hour?
Watch and pray lest ye enter into temptation.
When he talks about the end times and Bible prophecy, he often uses the term watch and
he often talks about therefore we do not sleep, let us not sleep as do others, but let us
watch and be sober.
Praying is the opposite of being asleep.
Have you ever been praying and you've fallen asleep?
Probably anybody who's done any serious amount of praying has fallen asleep while praying
because just like Peter, James, and John did, it's something that happens sometimes when
you're praying.
And so God is saying, you know what, watch in prayer.
If you jump down further in the passage, it mentions prayer again.
It says in verse 12, Epaphras who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always
laboring fervently for you in prayers that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the
will of God.
You know what this tells me is that praying can be hard work because he says, you know,
he's laboring in prayers for you.
He's saying look, watch and pray.
And you know what, it takes great effort to pray like we should.
It takes effort to stay awake, to stay focused, and to do the work of praying.
I mean prayer truly is work.
I mean it truly takes effort.
It's not easy, is it?
I mean it's more difficult than reading your Bible.
You know, it's more difficult than a lot of things in the Christian life.
But God commands us over and over again twice in this chapter, you know, he exhorts us to
pray.
And he says continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving.
Now prayer means to ask for something.
If you basically get on your knees and say, dear Jesus, thank you for this, this, and
that, amen, you haven't really prayed.
Because to pray means to ask for something.
That's what the word pray means.
So what the Bible is saying here is that we should pray and that we should do it with
thanksgiving, meaning that we should constantly be asking for things from God, asking God
to do something, and then thanking him for what he has already done.
Now Paul here gives a prayer request for himself to the Colossians.
He says with all praying also for us that we would get a better car.
You know, praying for us that we would be wealthy.
No.
Praying for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance.
Utterance means speaking.
They want to preach the gospel.
They're going to give the gospel to somebody.
To speak the mystery of Christ for which I am also in bondage.
You say, man, why does the Bible use these big words?
Utterance?
What in the world does that mean?
But do you notice how the Bible defines it right here?
What does it say right after utterance?
To speak, right?
So everybody acts like, oh, the Bible's so hard to understand and I don't want to have
to have a dictionary with me when I'm reading the Bible.
But usually the Bible is kind of its own built in dictionary.
So maybe reading the Bible will actually expand your vocabulary so that you can get beyond
texting language and actually, you know, speak with a good vocabulary and actually know the
words of the English language.
Every single word that's in the King James Bible is in a modern dictionary.
I mean you could go buy the brand new 2013 Webster and I'm not saying you have to get
the big giant one.
Even if you just get the small, the little desktop dictionary, I've never ever opened
the small little desktop Webster college dictionary and ever found a word in the King James Bible
that wasn't in there.
It's always in there.
And usually words that people will claim have changed in meaning, usually definition number
one is the King James definition.
Even if it's not the one we hear the most in public, usually definition number one is
the King James definition.
So this thing about the King James Bible's language being so archaic, no, it's just that
we've become dumbed down as a society.
TV and magazines and everything have just dumbed us down so that when we read an intelligent
book like the Bible, it goes over our head.
Look, we're not going to dumb down the Bible for you.
You need to get smarter.
You need to stop rotting your brain in front of a television.
You need to hit the books.
You need to do some studying.
You need to study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, and you should make time to learn the English
language.
And one of the best ways to learn is by reading the Bible itself because the Bible defines
it so much that you'll rarely ever have to reach for that dictionary if you just consistently
read your Bible cover to cover.
So he says pray for us that God would open the door for us to be able to preach the Gospel
is what he's saying, that he would open us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of
Christ for which I am also in bonds.
He's saying that's why I'm in prison right now.
So this book is being written from prison.
He's saying I'm in bonds.
That I may make it manifest as I ought to speak.
Manifest means it's plain, it's clear, it's easy for people to understand.
And Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter number 14 that except we speak by the tongue,
words easy to be understood we shall speak into the air.
So we need to use words that are clear.
Words that are easy to be understood.
You say well a minute ago, look, the words of the Bible are clear words that are easy
to be understood.
Words that are not easy to be understood are words that are hazy and foggy.
For example, people will often use words that are euphemistic of things that the Bible
is very clear about.
For example, a lot of people don't like to talk about hell.
Some people even think that hell is a cuss word.
I remember one time I was in youth group as a teenager and the question was asked, basically
where would we be without, you know, if Christ had not died for us, where would we be?
And I said, you know, we'd be going to hell.
And somebody literally went, oh!
Like I just said, just an obscenity.
But yet the word hell is used 54 times in the Bible.
That is a biblical clear word.
Today we're seeing that word replaced in many circles with unclear words.
You look at these modern Bible versions in the Old Testament.
For example, the ESV, which is really popular, the English standard version, changes it to
Sheol.
S-H-E-O-L.
Is that a word that's easy to be understood?
That's not even an English word.
That is a Hebrew word that no one knows and people are talking about Sheol this, Sheol
that, when hell is the word that people would actually understand.
Another word they'll use is Hades.
That's not a clear word because a lot of people think of Hades as the Greek underworld.
That's what it has historically meant in English.
We're talking about English now.
In English, get an English dictionary, that's definition number one.
The Greek mythical underworld of the Greek gods.
Okay, so these are not clear words.
Other people will sometimes just constantly refer to hell as a Christless eternity.
Instead of saying that people are going to go to hell, people are going to be damned
to hell, you know, they're going to say, you know, they're going to face a Christless eternity.
That's not easy to understand.
That's not even biblical because the Bible says that the people in hell are tormented
in the presence of the lamb.
They're in the presence of the holy angel, in the presence of the lamb.
So it's not even Christless.
So that's just something that they say because they don't want to say what the Bible says.
They don't want to make it clear, they don't want to make it plain.
Other people don't want to be clear about the gospel.
They don't want to say that it's just by faith that we're saved.
And the Bible's clear.
I mean, by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift
of God, not of works, let's say, the Bible's clear, salvation is by faith, salvation is
not of works, we ought to make that as clear as we can.
And not just kind of say, well, you know, there's faith and there's works and you know,
you know, or you ask somebody, hey, is it possible to lose your salvation?
Oh man, it'll take me three or four hours to answer that question.
I literally, I saw a famous preacher recently and they asked him, they said, you know, can
you lose your salvation?
Oh, it's going to take me more than ten minutes to answer that.
That could take me three or four hours.
It'll take me three or four seconds.
No!
That wasn't even three or four seconds.
I was trying to drag that out, but I only got like a second and a half out of that.
But anyway, I'm just saying, no, no, see how clear that is?
No.
And then I can even back it up in a really short time, too.
I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck
them out of my hand.
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, he that heareth my words and believeth on him that sent me,
has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death unto
life.
Look, you shall not come into condemnation if you believe.
You shall never die.
You have eternal life.
You have everlasting life.
No man can pluck you out of his hand.
You are sealed by the Holy Ghost unto the day of redemption.
Okay, what am I going to do for the next three hours?
Because I explained it too fast.
But you know why it takes three or four hours?
It's because they don't want to take a side.
So they just want to get all convoluted and equivocate when, you know, the Bible's good.
We need to make things manifest.
Preaching should be manifest.
I mean, this is a great name for a church, Manifest Preaching Baptist Church.
You know, just clear preaching.
I mean, no one should ever walk out of this church and be, I wonder where Pastor Anderson
stands on that.
I just don't know.
You know, he's preaching about salvation.
I just don't know where he stands.
You know, I mean, he was preaching about baptism, but I'm just not sure where he stands.
You know, we should always understand.
You know, you might not always like it, but you should always understand it.
Should always be clear.
Should always be manifest.
See, preaching is taking that which is complicated and making it simple.
Teaching is taking that which is complicated and making it simple.
Have you ever known teachers or preachers who take that which is simple and make it
complicated?
That is the opposite of teaching.
What a preacher and a teacher should be doing is taking something that's hard to understand
and making it easy to understand.
Using parables, using illustrations, comparing scripture with scripture to enlighten the
mind, not to create clouds of mist and darkness, you know, that will cause us to have less
understanding than when we started listening, okay?
We want things to be clear.
We want it to be manifest.
Now, in the parallel passage in Ephesians 6, he asks for a similar prayer request and
he says, And for me that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly
to make known the mystery of the gospel.
So here he says, I want to make the Word of God manifest.
In Ephesians 6, he says, That therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak.
So bold preaching is manifest preaching, okay?
So if you want preaching that's bold, you're talking about preaching that's clear and easy
to understand and manifest.
Those two things are being used synonymously.
Because when you see preaching that's not bold, it's when they beat around the bush.
Bold preaching just tells you, hey look, this is what the Bible says.
This is where we stand.
This is right.
This is wrong.
This is good.
This is bad.
So he says, I want to make it manifest as I ought to speak.
Verse 5, Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.
What he's saying with redeeming the time there is to make the best possible use of your time.
So he says, Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.
Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought
to answer every man.
Let me ask this.
How good of a use do you make of your time?
And a lot of people will ask, you know, how do you have time to go to church three times
a week?
Or how do you have time to read the Bible every day?
How do you have time to go soul winning every week?
How do you have time to do this or do that?
But it's really just about making the best possible use of your time.
There's a lot of time that we waste without even thinking about it that can be used for
something better.
And honestly, if we were to make things a priority, we have 168 hours in the week.
So out of 168 hours in the week, can we spare, you know, three hours of church and, you know,
plus maybe, you know, okay, travel time and whatever, you know, five, six hours a week
to be in church at all three services, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night.
You got 168 hours.
You know, can you spend five hours just getting your family in church?
You know, and can you spend, say, at least a half hour a day reading your Bible?
You know, can you do that?
And sometimes you can even do that with an audio Bible on your drive to and from work.
I mean, think about this.
Do you drive to and from work every day?
Do you drive 15 minutes each way perhaps?
Think about this.
You could get a half hour of Bible reading if you would get the Bible on CD or a Bible
app.
And I mean, now you can download a free app to your phone sometimes that will read the
Bible to you.
And you could do an audio Bible, 15 minutes there, 15 minutes back, you're doing 30 minutes
of Bible reading, you're going to get through the Bible twice a year.
Just on that audio, let alone when you pick up the book and read it.
Just on that audio.
And you know what most people do though on that drive, they'll sometimes tune into some
morning talk show.
You know, tune in to just some nonsensical talk radio or just some boring, you know,
or listen to music or just whatever.
I mean, that's a key time that you could be using that you're wasting in many cases.
Just putting a New Testament in your pocket will allow you to read your Bible sometimes
while you're waiting, you know, while you're in an elevator, while you're at the post office.
Even just read a few verses, meditate upon them, think on these things.
But if we were to actually look at the scripture for its context, he's talking about soul winning.
Because right before this, he's talking about utterance.
He's talking about speaking the mystery of Christ.
Right after this, he's talking about answering every man, talking about answering the unbelievers.
He talks about walking in wisdom toward them that are without, outside of the faith, redeeming
the time, making the best use of our time.
Look, we need to make time to go soul winning, number one.
Make time to go soul winning.
And you know, we try to make it as convenient for you as we can at this church by providing
all different times throughout the week, different days of the week, even different parts of
town so that you don't have to drive a long way to go soul winning.
You know, you live in Tempe, you can go with Brother Miller on Monday nights, you live
out on the west side, you can go with Brother Romero on Thursday nights, there's a whole
group that goes at these times.
There's a group in Gilbert.
I mean, we have all different times and places where you can go out and learn how to give
the gospel to people and win people to Christ and you can make time to do it.
So number one, just obviously we need to make time to do the soul winning, but number two,
let's make the best use of the time we spend soul winning.
What does that mean?
Not wasting too much time talking to people that aren't even interested or that are just
set in a false belief and are not going to budge.
That's why the Bible says a man that is a heretic, what is a heretic?
Somebody who believes a warped doctrine, a false doctrine.
The Bible says a man that is a heretic after the first and second admonition reject, knowing
that he that is such as subverted in sin is being condemned of himself.
So if you have somebody that's just set in a false religion and you give them one scripture,
they ignore the truth.
You give them a second scripture, they ignore the truth, then it's just have a great day,
see you later, move on to the next person.
That sometimes the tendency is to want to get in an argument with somebody and debate
with somebody for an hour or two hours when somebody down the street is interested in
hearing the Gospel and actually wants to get saved.
You're debating with the Mormon elder, the 17 year old Mormon elder, you're debating
with him for an hour, you're debating with some hardcore Pentecost, some hardcore Jehovah's
Witness for an hour when somebody down the street actually wants to hear the Gospel.
When I go soul winning, I give somebody a verse, they don't listen, they reject it.
I give them a second verse, it's time to just move on because the Bible says, give not that
which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample
them under their feet and turn again and rend you.
So we want to make the best use of our time to even make time in our schedule for soul
winning and then we want to make the best use of our time out soul winning, speaking
to people to whom God's leading us, not to just people that the devil's putting in our
way just to argue with us and contend with us when we need to just shake the dust off
our feet.
There are a lot of things in our schedule that are just a waste of time because if you
look at a typical day, it has 24 hours in it.
So even if you get your eight hour beauty rest, which is great, be healthy, get your
eight hours, okay, even if you sleep for eight hours and even if you then work for
eight hours, right, you have an additional eight hours in that day, you know, and obviously
some of that time is spent, you know, maybe driving to and from work, eating meals, whatever,
but you know what, come on, half hour to and from work, okay, you got seven hours left,
okay, an hour preening and grooming yourself, you got six hours left, you know, an hour
of eating meals, you got five hours left, an extra hour just for whatever, you got four
hours left.
What are you doing?
What are you spending that time on?
Now look, if you're working 12, 13 hours a day, you don't have as much time.
But a lot of us have more time than we think, we just spend a lot of time checking Facebook,
checking our, you know, just checking news websites, just check, and I'm not saying that
those are bad things, I'm not saying it's bad to do those things, I'm not saying it's
bad to just relax a little bit, I'm not saying it's bad to play a board game, I'm not saying
that it's bad to just sit around and talk with your family and relax and spend time
with a friend, I'm not saying that anything, any of these things are bad.
But what I am saying is when you're saying that you don't have any time to come to church,
read your Bible, or go soul winning, your priorities are wrong because you could probably
cut out some other junk and make the time.
And you know what's a way to just guarantee that you always have time to read your Bible
is to do it first thing in the day.
You know, if you do it first, then how can anything else get in the way?
And so just think about your life and think about whether the things that you're doing
are profitable.
You know, the books that you read, the TV that you watch or hopefully don't watch, because
I don't think that there's anything on TV worth watching.
It's all of sin, okay, and the devil.
But the thing is, even just the books that you read, I mean, look, I read a lot of books,
but I usually look at the books that I'm reading and ask myself, you know, what is this book
going to do for me?
You know, what is the purpose that I have in reading this book?
You know, and just evaluate your life, whether you're redeeming the time, what's the opposite
of redeeming something?
You know, letting it go to waste.
So just think about that.
And I understand the need for recreation and blowing off a little steam and having fun.
I'm not against that.
I'm just saying that when you all of a sudden, out of your 168 hours a week, 40 of which
are spent working, you know, 56 of which are spent sleeping, you still have a lot of time
left.
What are you doing?
Why can't you make it to church and read the Bible and pray and do some soul winning?
You know, it's your reasonable service is what the Bible says, so think about that.
But he says, let your speech be all the way with grace, seasoned with salt.
It's interesting, salt in the Bible is something that is symbolically used to represent grace.
Throughout the Bible you'll see these things representative of one another.
So he says your speech should be all the way with grace and then he restates that by saying
seasoned with salt.
Now it's interesting, you know, I meant to look it up before the service and somehow
it slipped my mind, but back when the children of Israel, notably the children of Judah,
are coming back from the captivity in Babylon and, you know, they're building the temple
and they're building the wall, you know, in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
I remember a scripture from back in that part of the Bible where the king is talking about
how he's going to provide them with the supplies that they need, which is just an act of God
that this heathen king would even be willing to help them out in their project of rebuilding
the temple and rebuilding the city of Jerusalem and building the wall and so forth.
And he's telling them all, you know, it's one of those passages that people often might
skip over because he's just talking about, you know, the amount that he's going to help
them and he's listing off amounts of cattle and grain and everything and at the end of
this list of supplies he says salt without prescribing how much.
He says, you know, all these different animals for sacrifice and he says salt with just an
unlimited amount of salt and that is symbolic in that passage for just God's grace that
there is no limit to God's grace.
See it says in Romans chapter 5, but the law entered that sin might abound, but where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound.
Did you hear that?
Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
So the more sin that we have, the more God's grace is sufficient to cover our sin.
Now the Bible follows that up by saying, you know, what shall we say that shall we continue
in sin that grace may abound?
God forbid.
How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?
So the Bible's not saying that we should go out and commit sin.
Obviously we're going to be chastened and chastised if we sin.
Obviously God doesn't want us to sin.
Obviously we're not to let sin reign in our mortal body, but theoretically the Bible's
clear in Romans 5 and 6 that the more we sin, the more God's grace is there to be sufficient
for us.
And that's why the doctrine that teaches that you can lose your salvation is such a false
doctrine because God's grace has no limit.
It has no bound.
There is no prescription of how much.
It's not like, you know, well you can sin to a certain point and then he's going to
cast you out.
No, he said, him that cometh to me I will know why he's cast out.
And so God's grace is always sufficient for us.
And the salt illustration helps illustrate that in the Bible.
Look at verse 7.
It says,
All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother and a faithful minister
and fellow-servant in the Lord, whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he
might know your estate and comfort your hearts, with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother,
who is one of you, they shall make known unto you all things which are done here.
Now, it's interesting when you see the word Onesimus there in verse 9, that probably makes
you think of another book of the Bible.
What other book of the Bible do you think of?
Philemon, right?
And what's interesting is that a lot of the people that are mentioned in Colossians chapter
4 here actually correspond with the book of Philemon.
And as you read this, it becomes obvious that Philemon actually lived in Colossae.
Now let me show you some of the names.
We have in verse 9 Onesimus, and not only that, but it says that Onesimus is a faithful
and beloved brother and it says, who is one of you?
So that's saying right there that Onesimus is one of the Colossians, right?
But it's not just Onesimus.
Look at verse 10.
Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas.
Jump down if you would to verse number 14.
It says Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greets you.
Jump down to verse 17 and say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry which thou hast
received in the Lord that thou felt.
All of these people are mentioned in the book of Philemon.
Now turn to the book of Philemon.
Let me kind of show you the relationship between the book of Colossians and the book of Philemon.
Because by comparing these two books we can learn a little bit about both of them.
Now Philemon is often referred to as one of the pastoral epistles.
You know they'll talk about 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon as being the pastoral epistles.
But honestly we don't really know that Philemon was a pastor.
There's not really any evidence necessarily that Philemon was a pastor.
I think the reason that people have conjectured that Philemon was a pastor is because he has
the church meeting in his house.
So I think they might have just looked at that and thought, okay, he's the pastor.
We do know that Philemon must be a wealthy man.
If he has a house big enough for a church to meet in it, he's probably a wealthy man.
And he also had a servant, Onesimus, people who have servants are usually wealthy.
But look what it says at the very beginning of Philemon.
It says, Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, he's also writing from prison here, and Timothy
our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved and fellow laborer, and to our beloved Apphia,
and Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in thy house.
And then if we jump down it says in verse 10, I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom
I have begotten in my bonds, which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable
to thee and to me.
Then jump down to verse 23, we'll see all the people's names from Colossians 4.
All of these people in verses 23 through 25 are mentioned in Colossians.
It says, there salute the Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, Marcus, Aristarchus,
Demas, Lucas, my fellow laborers, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit,
amen.
So we see a lot of names that overlap, don't we?
Several people in Philemon that are different, like Apphia for example, but most of the names
overlap between the two.
Now when we look at Colossians 4, it can help us to understand that probably Archippus was
the pastor of that church, because in verse 2 of Philemon it says, to our beloved Apphia
and Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in thy house.
But when we look at Colossians chapter 4, in verse 17 it says, say to Archippus, take
heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord that thou fulfilled.
So when we read Colossians 4, it's clear that Archippus is in the ministry.
And so when we see Archippus in the ministry in Colossians 4, and then we think about how
Philemon is really only being addressed to three people individually and to the church.
Because he says he's writing to Philemon, and Apphia, and Apphia is a woman's name,
so that's probably Philemon's wife, you know, because he's writing to Philemon, Apphia,
and then Archippus.
Why would he single out Archippus?
Some have theorized, well maybe that's Philemon's son, maybe he's talking to the family.
But when we look at Colossians 4, it seems more like he's probably addressing Philemon
and his wife, and the pastor of the church, and then also just the church in the house.
Now a lot of people also mistakenly think of Philemon as just being a personal letter
written to one guy, and so it's not really written unto the church, but in reality he
greets Philemon, Apphia, Archippus, and the church in his house.
So it seems like this book is profitable for all of us to read.
It's written unto all of us.
Now what is the book of Philemon about?
Let me just give it to you quickly in a nutshell.
Philemon is about a servant, Onesimus, who had been unprofitable in the past to Philemon.
He was a bad servant, he was a poor servant.
Now he's in jail, and Paul meets him in jail, and Paul wins him to Christ.
So we can kind of theorize what probably happened is that perhaps he ran away.
Perhaps he was indentured or under some kind of a contract to work for Philemon.
Maybe he ran away, you know, from Philemon and he's arrested for something unrelated
or arrested for having run away.
Or perhaps, you know, he'd stolen, maybe he'd stolen from Philemon, okay?
We don't know.
The Bible doesn't tell us exactly what happened.
But we do know that Onesimus had been an unprofitable servant unto Philemon.
Maybe he ran off, maybe he stole something from him, maybe he just did a really lousy
job at work.
And Paul doesn't even really know the extent to which Onesimus has wronged Philemon because
Paul even says, if he had wronged thee, or oweeth thee aught, he says, I will repay it.
So Paul offers to pay for whatever Philemon would have stolen or just whatever it cost
him when Onesimus was a poor servant.
So Philemon had a servant named Onesimus, Onesimus ends up in prison, Paul's in prison
for preaching the Gospel, so Paul and Onesimus meet in prison and Paul wins Onesimus to the
Lord.
So he calls him his son that he begat in his bonds by winning him to Christ.
And Paul is sending Onesimus back to Philemon with instructions to receive Onesimus and
to forgive Onesimus, and to now receive him not as a servant, but as a brother beloved.
So this guy's a new believer, Onesimus, and basically maybe Onesimus was just nervous
about going back to Colossae and seeing Philemon, and he wants to go to church and he wants
to get together with the brethren there, but Paul sends him this letter, the book of Philemon,
as a way to introduce Onesimus back unto them as a new believer, a brother in Christ.
More like a recommendation, you know, saying, hey look, forgive this guy, receive this guy,
and if he's wronged you, I'll pay for it.
So what's interesting is that when we read Colossians chapter 4, is that Onesimus is
mentioned in verse 9, it says with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother.
So let me ask you this, which book was written first, Philemon or Colossians?
Because in Colossians, Onesimus is referred to as a faithful and beloved brother.
That's obviously later on, you know, because Philemon is when this guy just got saved.
Onesimus has just gotten saved, he's just coming back to Colossae.
Well here in Colossians 4, he's shown himself faithful, meaning that, you know, he's been
saved for a little while, he's shown himself to be a faithful brother in the Lord.
He's one of them.
He's sending him with the letter, in fact, Tychicus in verse 7 and Onesimus in verse
9 are delivering Colossians unto the saints and faithful brethren which are at Colossae.
So let's keep reading here in Colossians chapter 4, Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, saluteth
you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, touching whom you receive commandments, if
he come unto you, receive him.
Now if we remember who Marcus is, sister's son to Barnabas, what would we call a sister's
son?
A nephew, right?
Well if you remember, in the book of Acts, Paul and Barnabas had taken Marcus with them
on one of their missionary journeys.
And partway through the journey, Marcus bailed out and went home.
Because these missionary journeys were very rough.
I mean this isn't some kind, this isn't like today's missionaries sometimes that are just,
you know, in the lap of luxury.
I mean these guys were on a very hard journey and they're facing a lot of persecution, a
lot of hardship, and so Marcus just couldn't handle the rigors of this missionary journey,
or maybe he got homesick.
But he departed, he bailed out partway through, he didn't finish the journey, and Paul was
not happy about that.
So Paul, Barnabas, and Marcus go on the journey, Marcus bails out.
Well then the next missionary journey comes around and Barnabas says, hey let's take Marcus.
And Paul says, no we're not taking Marcus, he bailed on us last time.
I'm not going to take this guy, he's going to turn around and leave again.
We can't rely on him, he's not faithful.
And so Paul and Barnabas get in a big argument, and the Bible says that the contention between
them was so sharp that Paul and Barnabas don't even end up going on the journey together.
I mean Paul and Barnabas, who had been partners on so many missionary journeys, just over
the issue of whether Marcus is coming or not, they split up even from each other and go
two separate ways.
And Paul ends up taking Silas, and then Barnabas ends up taking Marcus, and they go two different
directions.
But what we see is that later on, both in Ephesians and in Colossians, Paul says in
Ephesians for example, take Mark and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me
for the ministry.
So we can see that Paul has forgiven Marcus by the time Ephesians 6 rolls around.
And then right here, what does he say about Marcus?
He says, touching whom, verse 10 in the latter half, touching whom you receive commandments,
if he come unto you receive him.
So he's putting his stamp of approval on Marcus again in Colossians chapter 4.
That should be an encouragement to us, that just because we fail, it doesn't mean that
we're done serving God.
A lot of people have bailed out of church, a lot of people have been really faithful
to church, and they're coming to church, they're reading their Bible, they're winning people
to Christ, and then they bail.
They get backslidden.
Maybe for a while we start just barely seeing them.
We see them once or twice a month at church, and the next thing you know they're just gone.
That is the Marcus of this world, who basically just can't take the heat, so they get out
of the kitchen.
But what the Bible shows us in the life of Marcus is that he was a guy who didn't just
quit, he dusted himself off, and he got back in the fight.
You know, he came back, and he bounced back to the point where Paul is specifically naming
this guy.
He's profitable to me for the ministry.
I want Mark to come along.
Mark, you know, I mean before he was so vehement about Mark not coming, he split from his buddy
Barnabas over that very issue.
But then later on he's saying, man, bring him, he's profitable.
So that shows how it's never too late for us to get back in the fight.
You know, if we get backslidden, if we quit, if we're like Demas or Marcus, these people
who bailed at different times, you know, it's never too late to come back to church.
And look, somebody in this auditorium tonight is going to get out of church at some point.
I mean, just if history can be any guide.
You know, and we look around and they're like, no, you know, everybody's going to keep coming.
But honestly, some of the most faithful members that we've had over the years have gotten
backslidden and gotten out of church.
I mean, people who you thought would never quit going to church.
I mean, these people are zealous, they've dedicated good people, you know, they love
the Bible, they love the Lord, they love soul winning, they love our church.
But you know what?
Some people get backslidden and they get out of church.
And you know, I've seen some of the most unlikely people get out of church and that's why chances
are, one or several people that are listening to me tonight will eventually get out of church
at some point, will eventually bail out.
And it's sad, I hope that that never happens, I hope that everybody stays in the fight and
everybody stays serving God and stays reading your Bible and stays in church.
But you know what?
If history is any guide, somebody's going to get out of church.
I just want you to know, if you ever get out of church, don't ever feel bad to come back.
You know, if three or four months go by, and you know what, by the way, when somebody's
been out of church for three or four months and then they show up, don't go to them and
say like, where have you been?
You know, that's why people will be like, where have you been all this time, you know?
And then it's like, oh well, I was out of church, you know, nobody wants to be confronted
like that.
You know, here's what I do.
If somebody's been out of church for a few months and they show up, I just act like they've
been here all along.
And I just say, hey, I might just be a little more happy to see them, but I don't ask them
what's your deal because, you know, did you go to some liberal church?
Did you, were you going to a good church during that time, or, you know, did you just get
backslidden?
I mean, are you just really unfaithful?
Okay?
Obviously, it's better to just, hey, so good to see you, how's things going?
Great to have you.
And not make a big deal about the fact that they've been gone.
And look, I promise you that if you ever quit the church and then come back six months later,
I won't make a big deal.
I'll just be happy to see you and I'll just be ready to welcome you with open arms.
You know what, we ought to be, and even if you left on bad terms, you know what I mean?
There's always a place in Christianity for us to forgive our brethren in Christ and just
accept them back.
And you know what?
I've had some pretty sharp words with people that have quit the church and then they've
come back and we were great friends after that.
You know what I mean?
And I've had sharp words with people over the years and then just completely been restored
to fellowship with that person.
Because it's not the end of the world like sometimes people think it is, you know, when
Marcus quits the journey.
You know, he can still come back, okay?
So don't get discouraged and you know what, you say, well that doesn't apply to me, I'm
in church, but someday I want you to think back and remember that I said that in this
sermon so that you'll feel comfortable coming back.
Because I think a lot of people, it's just hard for them to come back sometimes and really
it shouldn't be.
It should be easy for you to come back.
So it says Onesimus, Sarcus, Marcus, jump down if you would to verse 11, and Jesus,
which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision, you say, wait a minute, Jesus, is that talking
about Jesus Christ?
No, it's not.
This is just a guy named Jesus.
This is Jesus called Justus, who's one of the, you know, circumcision it says, one of
the fellow laborers, one of the fellow workers.
Now look, this is like, in Spanish, a lot of people are named Jesus.
It doesn't mean that they're Jesus Christo though, you know, they're just Jesus, okay?
But here's the thing, that goes to show you that what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11 about
there being another Jesus can come true.
Now, I know there are a lot of Jesus's in South Phoenix, you know, the Jesus's, but
what I'm saying is that just because somebody's name is Jesus, that doesn't make them the
Jesus of the Bible.
And the reason that that's important to realize, we all realize that the guy down the street
named Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible, but what about the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints?
The guy that they're worshiping is no more Jesus than Jesus that mowed your lawn is Jesus,
okay?
Than Jesus that's your buddy down the street is Jesus.
He ain't Jesus, because you know what?
Jesus is the Son of God, okay?
Jesus is not a son of the many gods and the many planets and all, you know, the Mormon
Jesus is a totally different Jesus.
The Jesus of the Bible does not have a brother named Lucifer, okay, but the Jesus of Mormonism
has a brother named Lucifer.
It's just a different guy.
It's a different religion.
So just because somebody used the name Jesus doesn't mean that they're believing in the
Jesus of the Bible, okay?
We need to make sure that our faith is placed not in a mythical Jesus of our own imagination,
but in the biblical Jesus.
You know, there's a mythical Jesus out there, because there are a lot of people out there
that will just tell you, well, you know, well Jesus said, and then they'll just start
saying random things that Jesus never said.
I mean you know that's true.
They'll just say things and just say, well didn't Jesus teach, and then they just make
things up.
Didn't Jesus teach us that, you know, we should be accepting of gay people?
You know, it's like, what?
What are you talking about?
But didn't Jesus teach, you know, this and that?
They just put words in His, it's just a made up person to them.
Well Jesus would have never done this, this, and this, you know, and it's stuff that He
actually did.
Jesus would never call anybody any names.
But Jesus calling people a fox and a viper and He's calling them serpents and whited
sepulchers and fools and hypocrites, you know, well Jesus would never, my Jesus would never
call names.
Never Jesus, you know, doesn't exist.
Or He speaks Spanish, you know, but He's not the Jesus of the Bible, you know.
Because honestly, what, can somebody explain to me why so many people who speak Spanish
name their child Jesus?
What is going on with that, it's crazy.
Is it a Catholic thing?
They just say they named the kid Jesus?
And then they name, what's worse is when they give a boy a middle name of Maria.
That's weird, okay?
But anyway, I think it's a Catholic thing, yeah.
But anyway, if you're a Baptist and you know, if you're Hispanic and you're a Baptist, I
don't think you should name your kid Jesus.
I mean that's the name that's above every name, you know, I would just reserve that.
You know, and one time, one time I met a guy named Jehovah.
I thought that was very strange, you know, I mean I think we should reserve those names
for the people to whom they refer and not name people that.
But anyway, and don't name a boy Mary, okay?
But anyway, but it says, Jesus, which is called Justice, who are of the circumcision, these
only are my fellow workers unto the kingdom of God which have been a comfort unto me.
Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always laboring fervently
for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
For I bear him record that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea,
and them in Hierapolis, Luke the beloved physician, and Demas greet you.
Now that Luke right there, the beloved physician, is actually the man who wrote the Gospel according
to Luke and the Book of Acts, because if you remember, the Book of Acts is a continuation
of the Gospel of Luke, and what's interesting is that when you read the Book of Acts, it's
written in the third person, meaning that, you know, everything is he did this, and he
did that, and they did this, and she did that.
But as you get toward the very end of the Book of Acts, it starts saying we, we did
this, we did that, and we went there.
That's because that's the point at which Luke is with Paul.
So basically in the early days, Luke's not with Paul, but then as you go further toward
the end of the Book of Acts, Luke is traveling with Paul.
So I don't know why Paul had Luke traveling with him, maybe just as a fellow worker, a
fellow soul winner, fellow preacher, but maybe it was just, you know, the fact that it's
good to have a doctor around, you know, a physician around.
Now, you know, I don't have anything against doctors, honestly, because there are good
doctors in the Bible.
You know, for example, Luke, the beloved physician, so he was a good doctor, right?
That's a good guy.
But my philosophy on doctors is what Jesus said, they that be whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick.
So I'm not one who just constantly goes to the doctor whether I need it or not.
You know, I don't go for the well-baby checkup, you know, or whatever.
I don't go get a physical exam, because honestly, I just believe they that be whole need not
a physician.
And I like what Hippocrates said, the father of modern medicine, he said, when the physician
can do nothing to help, he must be kept from doing harm.
Okay?
Because, you know, there are a lot of physicians that can actually harm you and create problems
and make things worse in your life.
And so my philosophy is if I don't need the doctor, I'm not going to go to the doctor.
You know, I go to the doctor if I need something.
Like for example, you know, we were hiking and Brother Danny injured his finger.
He needed a doctor, okay, because honestly, you know, neither Scott nor Quinn nor I knew
what to do with Brother Danny's finger that was sticking out a weird direction and looked,
I mean, it looked bad.
And you know, I can say that now that at the time, I'm like, oh, that looks bad.
And he's like, don't say that, you know, he's like, he was trying not to look at it.
He's like, I can't look at it.
I'm like, I'm like, oh, man, it looks horrible.
He's like, don't say that, you're going to make me throw up.
I'm telling him like, oh, yeah, it's not too bad.
It's not too bad, but, but, you know, I'm looking at Scott, I'm like, Scott, do you
know what to do with this?
No, you know, Quinn, you know, no, you know, we didn't know, we're like, oh, man, maybe
I should have taken that first aid class, you know, or whatever.
And he needed a physician.
And he took it to the physician, and even the physician had to really work, I mean,
it took him like three tries to get his finger lined back up.
You know, thank God for anesthesia.
Can you imagine going to the doctor before anesthesia?
Here, drink this and bite down on this and, you know, I mean, that would have been awful.
At least, I mean, at least he was anesthetized, but it still hurt when they were, you know,
jacking his finger around.
So you know, I'm not against doctors.
I do take my children to the doctor when they need it.
You know, I do go to the doctor myself if I need it.
But I'm not one of these that just, oh, I have the sniffles, let's go to the doctor.
You know, I'm not one that goes to the doctor at the drop of a hat.
And I do believe that a lot of the practices of modern medicine are barbaric and almost
medieval.
Okay, because honestly, for, you know, when you look at modern medicine, there are a lot,
you say, oh, come on, Pastor Andy, what do you know about these things?
Well, I know that one-third of babies are cut out of their mother's womb.
That can't be normal.
And look, I'm not saying that a C-section is never necessary because, you know, there
are times when a C-section could be a life-saving procedure and a C-section could be helpful
and necessary.
But let me tell you something, it's not 40% of the time.
I mean, something's wrong when 40% of births.
My wife keeps statistics on babies that are born in our church.
Just any woman in our church that has a baby, you know, she just basically keeps statistics
on how many babies have been born and how many have been by C-section or, you know,
or how many have been born at home, how many have been born in hospital birth.
I believe we've had 19 babies born in our church so far.
None of those was by C-section and it was because the mother had already had two previous
C-sections.
Okay.
So, you know, one out of 19 and it was probably mainly because of the fact that she'd already
had two C-sections.
Okay.
Now, think about it, that is not the national average, okay, at all.
And again, I'm not trying to make people feel bad that had a C-section or anything.
And look, there could come a day when my wife has a C-section.
I'm not saying that that's not possible.
Of course that happens.
But what I am saying, though, is that something's wrong with our medical world when just 40%
of birds or 33% of birds, and those are the type of statistics that you see in a hospital
birth, are being born by C-section.
I mean, something's off there.
That's not, that's not normal.
That shows me that they're just really eager to start sharpening the knives, you know.
And basically just, you know, maybe it has something to do with the fact that a C-section
costs twice as much money.
Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that medical students and interns, in order
to become a doctor, have to observe or participate in a certain amount of C-sections.
You know, so just let's provide them with a lot of examples.
And then there are a lot of women who do strange things like they schedule a C-section on Friday
so that they can be back to work on Monday.
Okay, they've got their priorities way out of whack, okay.
They need to, you know, obviously stay home with their child and not, I mean, that's just
not good for your body.
I mean, after you have a baby, the Bible talks about the recovery after giving birth.
You know, resting and bed rest and, you know, recovering from the major strenuous task of
giving birth.
So what I'm saying is that's just one area of medicine.
You know, let's not even talk about cancer treatment that pretty much kills you faster
than cancer would.
You know, let's not even talk about all the other crazy things that the medical establishment
does.
But I mean, that's just one area, obstetrics and gynecology, where we see that something
is not normal about the way they're doing things.
If they're, you know, having a 33 to 40 percent C-section rate, something's wrong.
You know, some of this might be going over your head if you're not, you don't know about
these things.
But honestly, there's something to be said about the medical industry that's got a serious
problem.
Now, here's what I think the problem is.
They don't believe in God, is one of their big problems.
So they basically think that they have to fix things that aren't really broken.
Because God created our bodies as the marvels that they are, and science just doesn't necessarily
always have faith in the fact that God created our bodies in a right way.
You know, for how long did scientists have all these parts of your body where they said,
oh, you don't need that part of your body?
The vestigial organs.
And they said, oh, there's all these tons of parts of your body that are just relics
of evolution, like these are things that we've evolved past, we don't need these things
anymore, let's just remove them.
But then now, as we learn more, we realize that a lot of those things were helpful.
You know, you look at these organs that they say have no purpose, like, you know, for example,
or that they said in the past had no purpose.
You know, your appendix or something, you know, well, you don't need it.
Yeah, but it's a place that absorbs, you know, some of the garbage and filters it out.
You know, and I'm not an expert on science or anatomy, but I will say this, you know,
the tonsils being removed at the drop of a hat is not helpful.
I mean, the tonsils are there for a reason, okay?
And the appendix is there for a reason, the gallbladder is there for a reason.
And sometimes these things have to be removed for whatever reason, but they shouldn't be
removed at the drop of a hat.
Because honestly, they are there for a reason.
God put them there for a reason.
But this godless philosophy that is based upon the idea that we evolved from animals
over billions of years, obviously that's going to, if you start on that foundation, which
is a foundation of sand, you're going to end up with a lot of false science.
If you started out on the rock saying, you know, well, God created us, and then you even
used the Bible and the wisdom from the Bible as a foundation for building up your medical
knowledge, you know, then it would be more legitimate, okay?
But most doctors are not Christian.
Most doctors, and even if they are Christian, they were educated in a heathen institution
that did not believe in God, okay?
And the biggest reason, so those are a few things that could be wrong with medical establishment,
but I think the biggest thing wrong with the medical establishment is the money aspect.
The love of money is the root of all evil.
And doctors are, you know, just like anybody else, they're there to make money.
And there's nothing wrong with making money.
I mean there's nothing wrong when, you know, a fire alarm guy wants to make money or a
carpenter wants to make money or a plumber wants to make money.
I mean everyone should be paid for the work that they do.
And doctors should be paid and doctors should make money.
And it's not even necessarily the doctor's fault because a lot of times the doctor, they're
spending so much money on overhead and on, you know, their insurance and their bond and
their license and all their overhead that they're not really making that big of a profit
as you think, or as they used to.
So then sometimes they have to kind of find ways to make money.
You know, and you know, selling a lot of drugs.
Or selling certain drugs where the drug company is giving them an illegal kickback.
That happens all the time.
Or for example, drug companies will give them free samples, then they'll turn around and
sell the free samples and bill Medicare.
Happens every day, happens all the time.
So they'll get just tons of free samples from the drug company and then they sell the free
samples and bill the government because the government, I mean the government will buy
a $15,000 toilet seat.
You know, okay, they just print more money.
Just print the money, print the money.
You know, it's like, oh man, don't even get me started.
I could take the sermon a whole other day.
Let me make a note to self.
Preach a sermon against the government.
Okay, alright.
So, we'll do that another time.
But anyway, I'm just saying, you know, Luke was a good doctor.
That doesn't mean every doctor's a good doctor.
But it does prove that every doctor's not a bad doctor, right?
Okay.
So anyway, there's a time and a place for doctors.
Hopefully we can eat an apple a day and keep the doctor away is our goal.
Okay.
But anyway, look what the Bible says in verse 15.
With the brethren which are in Laodicea and Nymphos and the church which is in his house.
This doesn't mean that the guy's staying home from church and meeting with his three buddies.
This just means that the church is using his house as their building.
So, it seems that there are, basically there's a church meeting and a house in Colossae,
for sure, at least one.
And then there's also a church meeting and a house at Laodicea, okay.
Sometimes we've got Philemon's house and then we've also got the house of Nymphos having
the church in his house.
Look what it says in verse 16.
I've got to hurry, I'm almost out of time.
It says, and when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church
of the Laodiceans and that you likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.
Now, is there a book in the Bible called the epistle of Paul unto the Laodiceans?
But let me ask you this, do you think somebody probably after reading this has gone out and
written one?
Because that's what everybody, whenever there's any book mentioned in the Bible that we don't
have, obviously the devil and his minions are going to think, hey, let's go write one
and let's put a bunch of false doctrine in it, right.
And you can always tell these false books of the Bible, these phony, you know these
fraudulent like Gospel of Thomas, you know, or the epistle to the Laodiceans or the, you
know, whatever.
You know, and I've never read it or looked at it, but I do know that there is a book
out there claiming to be the epistle to the Laodiceans, you know, anything that's mentioned
in the Bible, the book of Jasher, the book of, you know, the Bible never mentions a book
of Enoch, but just cause it talks about something Enoch said, it's like, oh, let's go write
a book of Enoch, let's write this, let's write.
So there's all this fraudulent stuff out there.
It's always easy to tell when it's fraudulent.
Why?
The Bible is so powerful and so amazing that no other book can ever come close to it.
And books try to imitate it, whether it be the Book of Mormon, the Quran, whenever you
start reading them, you're like, no, not even close.
Try to read the Apocrypha, no.
You know, you can tell.
I mean, you say, well, who picked which books were going to be included in the Bible?
Look, it's obvious because there are ten times better than all the other books that were
not included.
Now you say, well, why didn't God give us the epistle to the Laodiceans?
Well look, let me give you a few thoughts on this.
Now some people have theorized and said, well, when Paul said the epistle unto Laodicea,
he's talking about the book of Revelation.
That's what some people have theorized because as you know, the book of Revelation is addressed
unto the church of Laodicea and was sent to Laodicea.
I personally think that that's probably not what he's talking about because it seems to
me that he's talking about letters that he wrote.
I mean, that theory is possible, I'm not against that theory.
It's a possibility, but I would tend to say no because the book of Revelation is written
by John.
Probably not what he's referring to.
Could be, but probably not.
But what I think is going on here is that we have in the Bible, you know, fourteen epistles
of Paul.
We've got Romans, we've got 1 and 2 Corinthians, we've got Galatians.
How many letters do you think Paul wrote in his life?
Fourteen?
Probably hundreds, right?
I mean, how many letters have you written in your life?
Oh yeah, that's right, you just text and email.
But anyway, you know, I'm sure that Paul wrote hundreds of letters.
Okay, now does that mean that all of those letters were under the inspiration of the
Holy Ghost?
That they were all God's Word?
Everything that Paul ever said or wrote was God's Word.
No.
So perhaps the letter to Laodicea was just not something that was God's Word.
Maybe it was just something that was just a letter he wrote.
Although when we look at this passage though, it seems like it probably was God's Word because
of the fact that he wants them, he's kind of putting it in the same category with the
Epistle to the Colossians because he's saying, hey look, read the Epistle to the Colossians
at Laodicea and read the Epistle to the Laodiceans to Colossians.
It probably was God's Word.
But what I would say is that it probably just didn't contain anything that's not already
contained in the other 14 long epistles that we have from Paul.
So God didn't feel that we needed it because he said the same thing everywhere else.
I mean look how much overlap there is between Colossians and Ephesians.
There's already a lot of overlap.
I think probably the Epistle to the Laodiceans, you know, could have overlapped with one of
the other epistles.
You know, whichever one, you know, you want to theorize it could have overlapped with.
You know, something that was written to the Thessalonians or the, you know.
I just believe that the information was probably covered somewhere else and that's why we didn't
need it.
That's why it wasn't preserved.
Could there be fraudulent scriptures yet?
Before you want to worry about finding all these missing books of the Bible, why don't
you just study and read these books?
We know these are God's Word and I think after you've read these 10 times and then you examine
these other candidates that have not been preserved when God promised to preserve his
Word.
These ones that have not been preserved, you'll see a difference because you'll have discernment.
But if you're some new believer that's never even read this book one time, you might get
confused.
So that's why you should read this 10 times before you even think about that.
And even then, don't even think about it because you're wasting your time.
Anyway the last verse here, the last two verses says, and to say to Archippus, take heed to
the ministry which thou has received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it, the salutation
by the hand of me Paul, remember my bonds, grace be with you, Amen.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, thank you so much for this great book of the Bible, Colossians, and thank you for
all the things we can learn about being fair with our employees, for example, and remembering
that we are your servants and that you will pay us a good wage, so therefore we should
pay others a good wage and help us to be faithful, help us to be good servants and good stewards
of all the things that you've blessed us with and all the things that you've given us, Lord.
And please just help us to make time for the things that matter most, especially for giving
the gospel unto the lost.
And in Jesus' name we pray.