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for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, where have you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come unto you, as it is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit, and as it doth also in you, since the day you heard of it, and knew the grace of God and truth. As you also learned of Ephetus, our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ, who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit, for this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will, and all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and that translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, and by him are all things created that are in heaven, and that are in the earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created by him and for him, and he is the before all things, and by him all things consist, and he is the head of the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence, for it pleased the Father, that in him should all fullness dwell, and having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself by him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled, in the body of his flesh through death, to present to you holy and unblameable and reproveable in his sight. If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, wherefore I Paul am made a minister, who now rejoiced in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his body's sake, which is the church, wherefore I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given me for you, to fulfill the word of God. Even the mystery which hath been hid from the ages and from generations, but now has been manifest to his saints, to whom God would make known what the riches of his glory, of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, whereunto I also labor striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. Let's pray, dear Lord God, thank you for every soul here right now, thank you for pastor as well, I pray that you bless him and fill him with the Holy Spirit as he preaches unto us, Lord, and just ready your hearts for the preaching of your word, Lord. We pray this all in Jesus name, amen. Amen. The time of my sermon this evening is a synopsis of Colossians, a synopsis of Colossians. I'm gonna go through each chapter and essentially talk about some of the doctrines, the major doctrines of the book of Colossians. Now, when you think of the book of Colossians, it's not necessarily a book that people readily quote or they know a lot about, it's not necessarily a book that's thrown in the spotlight a whole lot. And it's not necessary because it's not powerful, because it is, it's God's word. I think one of the reasons why is because of the fact that it's essentially a mere epistle to the book of Ephesians. And so if you've read the New Testament for any length of time, and if you've read Paul's epistles for any length of time, you'll notice that Colossians and Ephesians are very similar, right? They say a lot of the similar statements, talk about a lot of the similar doctrines, and it's almost as if Colossians is like a recycled letter from the church at Ephesus. And the reality is, is that obviously people are probably more familiar with the epistle to the Ephesians. However, the church at Colossians, the letter written to the Colossians is equally as powerful, has a lot of great teaching on it. But I think a lot of people don't readily recognize how powerful it is, because maybe it mirrors what we see in Ephesians, but also it's a letter that's not necessarily combating a specific false doctrine that infiltrated the church. You know, one of the churches, or should I say churches, that we know a lot about are the churches in Galatia. And the reason why is because of the fact that it's readily known that Judaizers were infiltrating the churches of Galatia and spreading false doctrine, trying to get people to come back under the law. And so we know that the book of Galatians is a combative type of letter given to the churches of Galatia. And we quote it very often. Whereas the book of Colossians, there's actually no drama in Colossae at this time when this epistle is particularly written. So those things don't necessarily stand out. Now, what we see, what we do see in Colossians is a lot of preventative doctrines, preventative medicine. In other words, he does exhort, he gives a lot of encouragement and admonishments, but he also warns the church at Colossae over the current dangers. Now, what are the current dangers? Well, Judaism, okay, is obviously one of them. This is written during the time where the apostle Paul, according to the book of Colossians and the book of Philippians, this is what's commonly referred to as the prison epistles, is when he's currently in bonds. He's arrested, he's in bonds for preaching the gospel. And obviously much of that has to do with the fact that he came under the persecution of the Jews. So many of the warnings that he gives to the church at Colossae are warnings against Judaism, which is exactly what chapter two has a major emphasis on. And so this is what this epistle's referring to here. In chapter one, he addresses them, he talks about how fruitful they are. He addresses the preeminence of Christ. Chapter two, he expounds upon the knowledge of Christ being likened unto treasure, and then he warns them about the danger of regarding the circumcision, and their false doctrine that they're trying to bring in to the church, and they will bring them to the church possibly later on. So he's kinda giving them that warning there in chapter two. Chapter three and chapter four are more practical. And so I like how it's written because of the fact that he gives doctrine right away, chapter one and chapter two, and then he gives the practical aspect for the application in chapter three and chapter four. And what that teaches me is that in the Christian life, you need both. You need doctrine, but you also need the practicality of that doctrine, right? How to apply that in your life. And what it's also teaching me is the fact that you can't really know how to live practically if you don't know the doctrine. So there's churches out there that wanna overemphasize the practicality of the Christian life, but they don't emphasize any doctrine. And what happens is they're doing their church members a disservice because their church members aren't necessarily building in biblical convictions regarding their beliefs, and so they're kinda just living out the Christian life, but not necessarily out of conviction, you understand? Whereas the balance of how God wants us to live is that he wants us to have the knowledge of God's word, he wants us to have the biblical convictions of God's word, and may that flesh itself out in our day-to-day lives and our application to combat sin, to have successful marriages, to be good employees, et cetera. And so chapter one and chapter two have a lot to do with doctrine. Chapter three is the practicality of that doctrine. And then somewhat of chapter four is also practicality, but really what he does towards the end of the book, it's basically like a shout-out chapter, where he's just kinda honoring his fellow laborers and giving them honor and recognition for the work that they've done. Now, we obviously know this is written by the Apostle Paul while he's in prison, but I also wanna note this, is that the church at Colossae wasn't started by the Apostle Paul, okay? And one of the reasons we can surmise that, one of the reasons I believe that, is because the epistle seems to indicate that he never even stepped foot at Colossae, okay? He was never even there. And in fact, if you look at chapter two, in verse number one, it says, "'For I would that you knew what great conflict "'I had for you, and for them at Laodicea, "'and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.'" So, what it's indicating here is that the church at Laodicea, the church at Colossae, possibly others, these were churches that were established by other churches whom the Apostle Paul has influence over, right? And so, obviously the Apostle Paul is an apostle, he is endowed by God with the Spirit of God, he's being used to pen the scriptures, so his letters obviously have a lot of authority, and it seems as though he has a lot of influence over these churches, that's why he's writing a letter to the church at Colossae. He said, well, who started the church at Colossae then? Well, in my personal opinion, it was probably the church at Ephesus. When you look at, when you read through the book of Acts, obviously the book of Acts has a lot to do with church planning and evangelism and missionary work, but you see that one particular church was really keen on training elders to be sent out, okay? And that church was the church at Ephesus. If you read Acts chapter 20, there's a lot of elders that met with the Apostle Paul, and the argument can be made, well, they're just like assistant pastors at that church. But when you look at the fruit of that region, I think it's safe to say that those pastors were probably sent out to start those other churches, okay? In Laodicea, in Colossae, and even the seven churches which are in Asia, okay, aside from, of course, the church at Ephesus. And so all these churches are churches of like-minded faith with different leaders and pastors over them, but then you have the apostles who are being used greatly as essentially the foundation to kind of kickstart those congregations, teach them doctrine and admonish them, things of that nature. And so he's saying here, you guys haven't seen my face, and the church at Laodicea hasn't seen my face, I long for you all. And this is what I would liken this example to be. You know, you think of the fact that this church, First Works Baptist Church, originally started as Faith Award Baptist Church under the leadership of Pastor Stephen L. Anderson. And he was essentially the pastor of this church, even though he wasn't necessarily here. He wasn't preaching on Sundays and Thursdays consistently. He would fly in once a month or so. And after a while, it was just every couple of months. And I was essentially the evangelist here leading the congregation, but he had the major influence over the church in a sense of it was through his authority that this church was started. And the person that I think is responsible for the church at Colossae is probably Epaphras, okay? Which we see there in chapter one, if you look at verse number seven, it says, "'As ye also learn of Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, "'who is for you a faithful minister of Christ, "'who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.'" This could possibly be the fellow laborer, the fellow soldier, the evangelist that's being used there to admonish the believers, preach to them on a weekly basis, provide leadership of some sort. And just a side note here, this might be referring to Epaphroditus as well, okay? Because Epaphroditus, Epaphras, Epaphras might be a contracted form of Epaphroditus, the man that we see in Philippians chapter two, who's a blessing to the church at Philippi as well. So what we see in the New Testament is a lot of evangelists, right? A lot of laborers being sent out to different churches to kind of perfect them in their faith. And the principle that we can learn there is that no work in the ministry can be done by one man. I mean, think of the Apostle Paul, he's such a great man of God, he is very gifted, the Lord is using him in a great way, yet throughout his epistles, he's always highlighting and talking about the fellow laborers, why? Because he can't do it alone. And the ministry cannot succeed and go forward with just one man. Obviously, we understand that every ministry needs a leader to lead the flock, but it requires multitudes of leaders under that person, under that leader, to accomplish the tasks at hand, to disciple others, to win souls to Christ, to train people how to preach the gospel, to train them how to be leaders in the church, in their homes, et cetera, you know, that's important. And you say, why is that important? Well, because of the fact, you never wanna have this attitude that, well, I'm just a member of this church, nothing more and nothing less, you know? I'm not a missionary, I'm not a pastor, I'm not a deacon, I'm not an evangelist, therefore, I'm just gonna put zero effort into fulfilling any leadership role wrong. You know, every single individual here has a sphere of influence of some sort. You know, some of you may have influence over 10 people, some over five, some may only have influence over one, but it's still influence. And you can still perfect someone in the faith and help them to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And we see that Epaphras obviously was a faithful man who perfected the saints there at the church at Colossae, and so we see that there, and I think it's great. Now, one of the reasons that I really like the Book of Colossians, aside from all the great doctrines that are found therein, is that it's a great book to debunk this false doctrine of church ages. Yeah, that's a really stupid doctrine that's put out by the dispensationalists of this world. And what is that doctrine? What is that referring to? Is that referring to like the age of an actual church? Or what is that talking about? It talks about church ages. Well, church ages is essentially the doctrine that asserts that the seven churches that are talked about in Revelation 2 and 3 don't represent actual churches, but rather an era of different churches, okay? And when you look at each church, the church at Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Philadelphia, the church at Laodicea, church of Philadelphia, I don't know if I mentioned that one already, but when you look at those churches and you look at the characteristics of those churches, it essentially represents how all the churches essentially behaved or what they were known for during that era, okay? And one of the reasons why, in my opinion, that doctrine exists is because the dispensationalists have to excuse why the seven churches which are in Asia are even being addressed in the Book of Revelation in the first place. So they gotta find a reason why are they even being addressed in Revelation 2 and 3 when they're Gentile churches and if the Book of Revelation is only for the Jews, you got an issue there because it's obviously addressing Gentile, Greek-speaking churches. But folks, those were legitimate churches, all existed. And what I find ironic about that whole thing is these dispensationalists could've chosen any church, listen to me, they could've chosen any church to represent this age. There's seven churches that they could've picked from and you would think if they had two brain cells to rub together, if Peter Ruckman would've just thought about it a little more, he would've been like, you know what, we're in the church at age of Ephesus, the church age of the church at Ephesus, but what church did they choose? The church at Laodicea. The worst church, okay, the most lukewarm, backslidden church in that list, they choose the church at Laodicea. Now why is that? Well, it's essentially they are revealing who they are. Okay, because if they're saying, well, this is the Laodicean church era, lukewarm Christians, they're basically saying that they're lukewarm, that they are blind, that they're naked, that they're destitute, that they should be spewed out of the mouth of God, that's what they're admitting to. Because you can't look at all the churches that exist today in 2023 and say, oh yeah, we're the church at Laodicea. It doesn't look like that in Belize right now. They got 28 people saved, it doesn't sound like this is a Laodicean church. You know, speak for yourself, dispensationalist, but what it is is an excuse to not go sowing, it's an excuse not to do great works, it's an excuse to just be a lame Christian, a lame church that isn't doing anything for God. Oh, we're the Laodiceans. No, you know what we are, we're just First Works Baptist Church, and when we read Revelation 2 and 3, we pick out the good stuff that we need to apply and make sure we avoid the bad stuff. We make sure that we're not like the church at Sardis, or not Sardis, at Thyatira, that we're not like the church at Laodicea, we wanna be like the church at Ephesus, we wanna be a church that, you know, like the church at Philadelphia, we wanna have the good qualities of this church, of these churches, and apply that to ourselves, which is exactly what the original intent of those epistles were, okay? Yeah, but if those letters were written to those churches, why are you gonna apply it to yourself? Because the sin nature of man is the sin nature of man no matter what age you're in. And the things that churches struggle with in the first century AD are things that the church is gonna struggle with today in 2023 as well. But go to Colossians chapter four, Colossians chapter four, look what it says in verse 15, it says, "'Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea "'and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house. "'And when this epistle,'" referring to the epistle to the Colossians, "'is read among you, "'cause that it be read also in the church "'of the Laodiceans, and that ye likewise read "'the epistle from Laodicea.'" So the letter that's given to the church at Laodicea, he's like, you need to read that one too. So if the letters that are written to the seven churches are only designated for those churches, then we got a violation here, because they're sharing epistles. Why would they share epistles? Because they're God's word, and they're applicable for all churches. And in fact, in Revelation two and three, I know we're in Colossians right now, but let me just go off on this a little bit. In Revelation two and three, they're supposed to read those epistles to each other. So the church at Sardis is reading the epistle, reading the letter from the church at Ephesus. Everyone knows about their dirt and laundry. Why? Lest you should be involved in the things that they're involved in that displease God. And so if the church at Sardis is reading about the epistle to, or excuse me, reading the letter that's written to the church at Ephesus, they're gonna be like, man, we need to buckle down on our doctrine and not allow false prophets to infiltrate our church. Look at this church, how God is praising this church for their works and for their hatred of the deeds of the Nicolaitans. We don't hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans the way the church at Ephesus does, and so it challenges them. So all scriptures given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine, for proof, for correction, instruction, and righteousness, which is why the Apostle Paul is saying, hey, read this at Laodicea, and make sure you read the letter that I wrote to Laodicea or the letter that they received in your church as well, because it's God's word, okay? And so it kinda shows you there that that debunks the whole, well, we gotta see who it's written to first. You know, the church, the letter, the epistle to the Ephesians is only for the Ephesians. No, it's for us as well, okay? He's addressing that church, but that church will experience the things that we experience, or we will experience the things that that church experience, and the church at Thessalonica, the church at Philippi, these are common things that people will struggle with, or these are common heresies that we're gonna deal with, right? That we're gonna have to combat in our ministry as well. So it's a great book to debunk that false teaching there, but in general, the church at Colossae didn't really have any problems. Doesn't mean they were never gonna have problems, but during this particular time, they weren't experiencing a whole lot of conflict or infiltrators, but in either case, doctrine needs to be taught. False doctrine needs to be called out, lest it should arise in that church. Now look at verse number four here. It says here, since we've heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which he had to all the saints, for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, where have you heard before the word of the truth of the gospel, which is coming to you as it is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit as it doth also in you, since the day you heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth. So one thing that we can look at for the church at Colossae is that it is a fruitful church. Now what does that mean when we say it's a fruitful church? Well, number one, obviously they're learning God's word. Fruitfulness in the Christian life does equate to getting people saved, but it also equates to those who are saved actually growing in their knowledge of God's word as well. You understand? You see, God doesn't just want you to win souls to Christ, that's obviously extremely important, but he wants you to grow as a Christian as well. And it's important that when you come to church, you don't just view church as a place for you to get trained for the work of the ministry, but that the ministry would work you and help you to be a better Christian as well. You know, that you would become a better son, a better daughter, a better employee, a better husband, a better wife, a better church member in general, just a better Christian to be fruitful in that area. And obviously it's a balance. We obviously understand that when we come here, we want to learn how to be good Christians in the service of spiritual matters, such as soul winning, serving in your church, but also reinforcing biblical roles and our responsibility in those biblical roles as well. And so he says there that their faith was heard of. He says that they obviously have love for all the saints. And it says in verse number five, for or because the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, wherever you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. So what do we see here? They're motivated to love people because of the hope that is set before them. You understand? So what could we take away from this particular church? They're very eternally minded. And let me just say this, in order for you to be eternally minded, you can't be a covetous, temporal minded person. You find me a temporal minded Christian, I'll find you a Christian that struggles with covetousness. Because covetousness induces temporal thinking, right? It causes you to just esteem the things of this world, which is if you go to Colossians chapter three, look what he says in verse number one. If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God, set your affections on things above, not on the things of the earth. Skip down to verse number five, mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. One of the sure ways to steal your fervor for God is developing covetousness in your life. And not only that, but it steals your love for others as well, because covetousness is very much associated with greed, the desire to lust after things that doesn't belong to you, that don't belong to you, that you shouldn't have. And it essentially quenches that love for others. And so this church, obviously, not only did they have faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, but in light of that, they had love for the saints as well. He says in verse seven, as he also learned of Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ. Now we obviously know that love is taught of God, right? And there's a lot of things that we can just learn by ourselves, just reading the Bible, walking with God. However, sometimes we need an Epaphras in our life to kind of teach us a little bit more about these Christian virtues. And this is something that is very common in the Bible, that God not only expects for us to grow personally in our knowledge of the Bible, but he also expects us to follow someone else as well. Why? Because there's people who are around your sphere in life who are far ahead of you spiritually than you are, right? And it's important for you to give heed to that and say, you know what, I'm gonna follow this person's example, whether it's your pastor, whether it's just another mature spiritual person in the church, and make sure that you learn from them and learn from their virtues, learn from their obedience, learn from their service. This is essentially what Epaphras did, is he provided an example for the church at Colossae to follow there. He goes on to say in verse number nine, he says, for this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of CCM, the knowledge of how to listen to CCM, and what devotional books to purchase, and you know, things that, no, it doesn't say that. It says with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding. So what was the purpose of them praying? He's like, God, fill them with just the knowledge of the Bible. Because when he says the will, it's referring to what's in the Bible. And this is why we want to remain a doctrinally sound church where you come to church to learn doctrine, and you come to church to reinforce the doctrine that you've just learned, right? Where doctrine is preeminent, this is not a church where it's just, well, you know, if you could just learn how to operate the smoke and the purple lights, I was gonna say purple smoke, but you know, maybe they got that too now. Where you can learn how to just be worldly, and you know, I don't know, what do they do at liberal churches? Cody? I mean, did I get that? Is that correct? All right. You know, where you can learn how to just look gay. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. You know, where you just learn, I've never been to a liberal church, I don't know. I'm just kinda just, just reference Brother Cody. He'll tell you what's in those types of churches. Here he says that you might be filled with knowledge. But I guarantee you this, you go to any one of those non-denom churches, you're not gonna find people who have knowledge of the Bible. And in fact, you'll find people who are offended by the knowledge of the Bible. You'll find people who, their doctrine is so shallow that just reading the book of Colossians will cause them to asphyxiate and drown because they can't take it. They drown in a cup of doctrinal water because they can't handle it. No, we want to create good swimmers in our church, amen? Where you're swimming in the water of God's word, where you're not afraid to get into the deep end either. You know, because sometimes we gotta go into the shallow end and be torso deep or whatever and just kinda walk around in there, but sometimes we need to take the kid and just throw him in the deep end, amen? Not literally, although that's how I learned how to swim, by the way. That's literally how I learned to swim. My brother took me to swim classes when I was like six years old. And he said, all right, and he grabbed me and he just like threw me in the water. And there's like a lifeguard who was far away. My sheer will to live taught me how to swim. Because I was like drinking water, I was like, oh my God. And then the lifeguard's like, you're okay, you're okay. And he's like trying to, he didn't say like, you know, do this or anything. I was just like, ah. And then finally I grabbed him and I'm like, ah. And he's like, see, you made it. And that's how I learned how to swim. But sometimes you need to be thrown into the deep end of doctrine and learn about end times prophecy. Learn about the intricacies of the book of Leviticus. Learn about the tabernacle of the Old Testament. Learn about why or when was Jesus Christ crucified. Right, learn about the things that mainstream churches don't really like to talk about because they want to address issues of the immediate of, you know, let's just help someone make it through the week or something, which I'm all for because that's where exhortation comes into play. But you know what the Bible emphasizes a lot, knowledge. Now obviously we know that knowledge puffeth up. So we can't just have knowledge, which is why we see at the church at Colossae, he wants them to increase their knowledge, but he obviously sees that they're a church that loves the saints, you understand? So it's important to have both. And to be humble, to have knowledge, but not at the exclusion of love. To have love, but not at the exclusion of knowledge. He says that he might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Why, verse 10, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. There it goes on to say it again. Now one thing that I've noticed with doctrinally sound churches, when you teach the right doctrine, you always get the right behavior. When you get the right doctrine, it produces the right type of behavior. You find me a church that uses the purple smoke, not the purple smoke, purple lights, and the smoke and the mirrors and all that nonsense, I'll show you a church with sinful conduct. All right, you show me a church that the mega church where the pastor is giving a 15 minute TED Talk, where little to no Bible is used, it's very worldly, and it's all about CCM, I'll give you a church that has pretty bad conduct, spiritual-wise. Why, because often what we believe kind of determines how we behave. So he's saying I want you to be filled with the knowledge of his will, why? He might walk worthy, okay? He says, of the Lord until all pleasing. In Ephesians, I believe it's chapter four, he says he might walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. So when we know God's word, we know how to do it right. When we have the knowledge of the Bible, we know how to serve God correctly. When we read the Bible, we know how we're supposed to evangelize. We know how we're supposed to sow in, we know how to operate a church, we know how to execute biblical principles, how to behave ourselves in the house of God. When shallow doctrine is given, it's kind of just open for grabs, to each his interpretation. He goes on to say, verse 11, strengthen with all might according to this glorious power unto the patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. Skip down to verse 15 here. I'm gonna skip over some things, because we're barely in chapter one. Verse 15 says, who is the image, referring to Jesus, of the invisible God, listen to this, the firstborn of every creature. Now that's a common verse that Jehovah's Witnesses like to use to try to teach that Jesus Christ was a created being. How many have heard something like that? And they'll often point to this particular verse, not because they came across it in their own Bible reading, but because in their little Jehovah's Witness training camp, they give them a list of verses to use against Bible believers to try to trip them up. And they'll say, Jesus Christ was a created being, and here's the verse to prove it, that he's the firstborn of every creature. This is often what they'll say. However, like with anything else, we need context, right? And verse 18 gives us the context. It says here, and he, referring to Jesus, is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. So when it says that he's the firstborn, in verse 15 of every creature, you can compare it to verse 18, where it says that he's the firstborn from the dead. What is that referring to? It means he's the first one to resurrect in a glorified state, not just to resurrect, because multiple people have resurrected throughout biblical history. I mean, even in the Old Testament. I mean, you got a guy being thrown into Elisha's grave, where his bones are at, and he was dead, and the guy came back to life. You have multiple people resurrecting in the Old Testament. You have people resurrecting in the New Testament. You have Lazarus resurrecting from the grave. You have the saints that came out of the grave when Jesus Christ resurrected, and so there's many examples that we can point to, but here's the difference. They all died again, okay? So yeah, they resurrected, but not in a glorified state, because if they were to resurrect in a glorified state, they would essentially have a transfigured body that can never die. So Jesus Christ is the firstborn from the dead, meaning he's the first to resurrect in a glorified, transfigured state, never to die again. Now, what's really silly about that interpretation that, Kyla, shh. What's really silly about this interpretation that Jesus Christ is the firstborn of every creature, that he was a created being, is verse 16. For by him were all things created. Now, how can that statement be true if Jesus Christ was created? If he created all things, but he himself was created, that's a self kind of, you know, it's a contradiction there. Obviously, that's not what's taking place, and in fact, you know, the Bible says also that by him were all things, by him all things were made, and I don't wanna misquote it, John chapter one. In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. I can't remember the verse right now. Sorry, I'm going blank. Good thing I know where it's at. This is the same as in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, listen to this, and without him was not anything made that was made. So how can it be true if he was created, understand? You see, then what's the point of this verse? What's the point of saying that he's the firstborn of all creatures and the firstborn of the dead? What's the point of even inserting that verse into the Bible? Because it's setting us up here in verse 15 to talk about the preeminence of Jesus Christ. The fact that he's just the most important person on the face of the planet of all eternity, and just to give one example, he's the firstborn of every creature. He's the first one to resurrect in a glorified state, and in fact, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, it calls him the firstfruits of the dead. He's the first to resurrect with the glorified state, and because of that, when we resurrect, we will also be glorified. So he says in verse 16, For by him were all things created that are in heaven, that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things, and by him, all things consist. So obviously, it's giving us these statements here to not only help us understand that he's the preeminent one, but also to kind of reinforce his deity as God, right? Because he is the first and the last, the beginning and end, he is the most important. He says in verse 18, And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. Now, we shouldn't just breeze over that teaching there, because it is important. And I think, especially in the day and age in which we live, Christians have a tendency to focus on everything else in the Bible but Jesus, right? You say, is that really true, though? Do people really do that? I mean, why would Christians who call themselves Christians avoid Jesus when talking about the Bible? Well, I don't know, maybe when they're talking about Israel. How about that? You know, in the conversation of Israel and the Jews, the thing that you hear about the least is actually Jesus. Anytime you get into a conversation with another Christian about Israel, the least quoted person in that conversation by the Zionists is Jesus. They exalt Israel. I mean, the only time, okay, let me correct myself here. There is one time when they quote, where they like to talk about Jesus. And that's when they say, well, Jesus was a Jew. And that's all they want to say, you know what I mean? It's like, well, Jesus, because I always tell them like, what did Jesus say about the Jews? Tell me what he said about the Jews. And they don't want to say it, because Jesus didn't have anything positive to say about them. There isn't anything positive in the Bible out of his mouth that was positive about the Jews. So the only thing they want to say is like, well, Jesus was a Jew. And let me say this, Jesus was not part of the religion of Judaism. He adhered to the religion of the Bible and he obeyed the word of God, but he wasn't involved in the traditions of the Pharisees, my friends, okay? Now there's aspects of Judaism that obviously he was involved with because those aspects were actually biblical aspects of the religion of the Bible. But the traditions of man, the things that would make void the commandments of God by the traditions, Jesus Christ was not involved in those things, okay? And so it seems as though with the Zionists, Jesus isn't the preeminent one. Who's the preeminent one? Israel, Jews? No folks, it all goes back to Jesus, okay? He is the preeminent one. He is before all things. And it says in verse 19, For I pleased the Father, that in him should all the fullness dwell, and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. Now, I personally believe that this particular verse here is reinforcing the fact that both Jew and Gentile, are made one at the death of Christ on the cross, okay? And when he's saying there, that he's made peace with the blood of Jesus Christ, and by him to reconcile all things unto himself, I believe he is referring to both Jew and Gentile. Now let me prove that. Go to Ephesians chapter two, if you would. Ephesians chapter two. It says in Ephesians chapter two, verse 14, For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make it himself of twain one new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both unto God, in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. So obviously that's a cross reference there that we can verify that what he's referring to in Colossians chapter one, is the fact that he's reconciling both. He's essentially of twain making one new man, understand? He said, well, but it says in heaven though. Well, yeah, the Jews in heaven as well. There you go. Simple explanation right there. Go back to Colossians one. So verse 20 is essentially addressing the impact of the new covenant upon Jews and Gentiles. And the proof there again is verse 21, it says in you that were sometimes alienated, and enmities in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. Well, who is the you that he's referring to? He's referring to the members at Colossae who are obviously Gentiles, right? And he's saying that you were at enmity, you know, you think of Ephesians chapter two, that they were aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, okay, from the covenants of promise. Well, he says there now you've been reconciled, okay? So now the Gentiles there are a part of that covenant. Verse 22 says in the body of his flesh through the death to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight. But I want you to notice verse 23, if ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. That's an interesting statement there. Because it's stating here in verse 22 that the church at Colossae, the believers at Colossae, will be presented holy and unblameable, unreproveable in the sight of God if they continue in the faith and if they're not moved away from the hope of the gospel. Now, works-based salvationists and people who believe you could lose your salvation would take this verse to say, well, there you go, you could lose your salvation if you move away from the gospel, right? Or if you're not grounded and settled. But that's not what that's teaching. What this is teaching is that if a person who claims to be a Christian somewhere along down the road no longer believes the gospel, it just kind of proved that they were never saved to begin with. That's what that's teaching there. Because he says you're gonna be unreproveable, obviously not because of their works, it doesn't say anything about their works. They're gonna be unreproveable, they're gonna be unblameable, they're gonna be holy, not having to do anything because of their works because salvation brings that virtue upon their lives. Essentially, the righteousness of Jesus Christ is imputed unto them, and because it's imputed, therefore they're unblameable, they're unreproveable, they're holy in a sight. Hold on a second, if you continue in the faith, why? Because if you deviate from the faith to believe another faith that's not of God, then it's just proof that you were never saved to begin with. This is what 1 Corinthians 15 talks about as believing in what? Vain. You had an empty belief that was never there. And let me just address that, there's gonna be times when you thought you won someone to Christ, and you find out later on they were just never saved to begin with. Don't feel bad about that, don't think that it makes you just a horrible soul winner, that is just the nature of the beast, my friends. Now I believe the vast majority of people that we went to the Lord get saved. They're saved, and they are believers. However, the law of numbers shows us that there's gonna be instances where people go along to get along. And they'll make a profession of faith, but somewhere along down the road, they become a freaking Mormon or something. Like, oh, this person was, you're going to hell, bro. You're like, you were playing the part this whole time. Yeah, but does that really happen? I mean, have you heard of like Judas Iscariot? How can that happen in your ministry, little Pastor Mejia? It happened in Jesus' ministry. It happens, people play the part. Folks, we've had people come to this church and apostatize. Okay, I'm not talking about pasta. I say they apostatized, meaning they made a profession of faith, they got baptized, I asked them the question. Have you trusted Jesus as your Savior? And they're like, yup. I baptized them, they sat front and center, listened to preaching for months on end. They even liked the preaching, they even thanked me for the preaching. All of a sudden they're like, I'd like to transfer a membership to the Catholic Church. They're like, what? Like, yeah, I want, I just, my beliefs are in alignment with the Catholic Church. And I'm like, oh, you're apostate. All right. I never wrote it, because I didn't have time to, but I wanted to though, because what I was gonna do is I was just gonna send a letter to the Catholic Church and say, this church member has apostatized because they want to be a member of your Christ-rejecting pedophile church. But folks, that's gonna happen throughout the years. And so don't think that's a blotch on the ministry, that's a blotch on your record as a soul winner, that's a blotch on you as a Christian. Oh man, I wasn't thorough enough. No, sometimes folks, people just go along to get along and they're exposed later on, why? Because they didn't continue in the faith. It doesn't say they didn't continue in their works, by the way. Notice it doesn't say they didn't continue in deeds and in good works, it says in the faith. Meaning, they didn't persevere in their belief, okay? And you know, you'll have people at the door that say that, you know, I could lose my salvation if I stopped believing. And they're almost halfway right, right? Because of the fact that you can't lose your salvation, it's just like, yeah, you just were never safe to begin with. And so, be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof Paul I am made a minister, who now rejoiced in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his body's sake, which is the church. Now, later on here in this particular passage, he gets into the subject of the mystery, okay? The mystery of, he says there in verse number 26, he says, even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now has made manifest to his saints. Now, dispensationalists love that word, mystery. You know why? Because they're like, oh man, we can insert all kinds of things in there, because it's a mystery. And this is what they'll say, they claim that that's referring to the mystery of the gospel, referring to the fact that the gospel that we preach today was actually a mystery to those in the Old Testament, because they had a different gospel. It's just astounding how false cults, so these cults or whatever, will literally teach doctrine that it's just contrary to the Bible. Like if you preach another gospel, then it'll be a curse. But they're over here teaching that there's different gospels. And so they claim, well, the mystery to the saints of the Old Testament was that salvation was gonna be by grace through faith in the New Testament. Wrong, nowhere in the Bible does it say that. Well, then what does it mean then when it says mystery? Well, here's the mystery, look at verse 27. To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory. Now, let's compare that to Ephesians. Go to Ephesians chapter three. Ephesians chapter three, because remember, Ephesians and Colossians are like mere epistles. So if you have a hard time understanding something in Colossians, just reference it in Ephesians. Probably 80% of the time, it's going to reveal to you what it's referring to if it's not just blatantly said there in the text. But look at Ephesians, excuse me, chapter three, and verse number six, oh, actually, let's start in verse number, let's start in verse one. For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles, if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you, word, how that by revelation he made known into me the mystery as I wrote afore in few words. Now, don't breeze over that. What does afore mean? Before, okay, so what were the words that he wrote afore time? What was it that he was teaching afore time? In chapter two, he's teaching that both Jew and Gentile who are twain are made one. So what is he talking about when he says the mystery? And what is he talking about when he says the mystery as I wrote a few words? It's referring to the fact that the Gentiles would be integrated to the commonwealth of Israel. That's what he's referring to. He says in verse four, whereby when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known into the sons of men as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. I mean, that's pretty clear right there. So the mystery is not like, hey, one day, we're not gonna have to do anything. We're not gonna have to offer sacrifices for our salvation. Now it's just by grace through faith alone. No, the mystery is that the Gentiles who were not part of the physical nation of Israel would one day be partakers of those promises of those covenants. That was the mystery. It could be that the Israelites of the Old Testament just thought in the New Testament, everyone will become an Israelite because it was a mystery unto them. But obviously now the Apostle Paul, who's a Jew according to the flesh, understands the mystery and that mystery is that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs with the Israelites as well through the gospel. It's not a different gospel. It's just that now the influence of the gospel is expanding to the Gentiles and now they're integrated to those promises that were given in the Old Testament. Does that make sense to everyone? Go back to Colossians. So that is essentially what verse 25 and verse 26 is referring to, and 27. He says in verse 28, whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. So the mere fact that he now understands the mystery, now he's no longer biased. Now he's like, well, I'm gonna preach to every man now then. And it seems as though the Apostle Paul is the one who understood this the best amongst the apostles, right? Which is why he was so successful in getting so many converts because he understood the mystery. Now later on the mystery was revealed also and explained in a more thorough fashion to Peter. He needed an illustration with food in order for him to get it, but he ended up getting it, right? So what we see here is that the influence that the revelation of this mystery had on the Apostle Paul was now that he was just gonna preach to everyone. Because it didn't matter who they were, everyone can be a fellow heir with Israel and the promises that are given to them through the gospel. He says in verse 29, where unto I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. I'm gonna stop there because I'm just gonna end up, this will be a series, okay? So I thought I was gonna be able to do it all in one, but there's so much in just in chapter one alone. And so I don't wanna just like in 20 minutes, just breeze through everything in chapter two, there's a lot I can say in chapter two and I'm gonna say in chapter two. But what we see here in Colossians chapter one is the fact that this Gentile church is doing just great works for God. And it's because of the fact that they're now part of that revelation of that mystery, their fellow heirs. And you know, the Apostle Paul, before he really just digs into doctrine, he tells them like, hey, Jesus comes first, right? He is the preeminent one. And that is a message that we always need to emphasize, no matter where we're at, no matter what type of doctrine we're talking about, just recognize, hey, Jesus is first. He's before all things. Hey, he's before your wife. He's before your husband. He's before your children. He's before anyone and everyone. He is before all things. He is the preeminent one. And not just in spiritual matters that we look at here as far as the resurrection is concerned, but just in our day-to-day lives, obviously he should be the most important one. And when you keep him as the focal point of your ministry, of your life, you know, everything just kind of falls into place. So it's not like, okay, I have to choose Jesus over my spouse. Well, technically and biblically, when you put Jesus before your spouse, you get both, right? It's like, oh man, I gotta put Jesus before my kids. Well, typically when you do that, you just get godly kids. I gotta put Jesus before my job. Well, if you do that, then God causes you to succeed at your job. So it's just a matter of priority is what it is, that he is before all things. And so I'll finish there and we'll continue in two weeks when I get back from Belize. Let's pray, Father, we thank you so much for your word and thank you for the book of Colossians. What a great book, what a great chapter filled with a lot of great principles and doctrine and how unsearchable are the riches of Christ, Lord. And I pray that you'd help us as your people to continue to gain knowledge and wisdom and appreciate the treasures that are found in Christ and the word of God that I pray that that would influence us to correct our conduct or improve our conduct and that we would live a life that's pleasing unto you, that it would influence our service for you and soul winning, our marriages, our child rearing, our service in church, our employment, Lord, wherever we're at. And I pray that you bless us as we go on our way. Lord, I pray that you'd be with us as we go to Belize, continue to be with Brother Maury and Brother Christian. May you protect them and guide them, fill them with your spirit, they're doing a great job. And I pray that you'd make them fruitful tomorrow as they go and preach to the schools in San Jose. And may you give us a safe travel there on Wednesday and help us to be fruitful in the coming week, Lord, that we get a lot of people saved and change the destiny of many. And we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.