(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Finally, in chapter two, we spent a few weeks getting through chapter one. Colossians, again, I'll say is a great study of the person and work of Jesus Christ. So it's a short book, but there's a lot of detail in Colossians, so I don't want to miss anything. Let's get right into it and look at what Paul is saying in chapter two of the book of Colossians. Look at verse number one, where Paul says, I would that you knew what great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea, and for as many have not seen my face in the flesh. So, first of all, Colossae, Colossae is in Asia, which is right across just to the east of Greece. Colossae is not a coastal city like Ephesus is, so there's some coastal cities. Colossae is a little further inland, and if you've ever looked at, you know, Paul's missionary journeys, I'm going to tell you that there's a point that Paul is trying to make here at the beginning, and I'm going to get to that in just a minute. But look at verse number two, it says, what great a conflict I have for you in verse one, and for them at Laodicea, and as for many have not seen my face in the flesh. So first of all, he says that there's people that haven't seen him before, and if you put that in conjunction with a verse that comes a couple verses later, and then you look at the fact that Epaphras, in verse number one, came back from Colossae and reported to Paul, if you remember, the sermon, a church witness was the very first sermon of the book of Colossians, Paul has never been to Colossae. I find no evidence in the entire New Testament that Paul ever went to this town, okay? So now, he's encouraging them through letters. That's what he's doing at this point. Look at verse number two, that their hearts might be comforted. So he's saying, you and the people at Laodicea, that their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, we'll look at that in a few minutes, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ. It's like, okay, there's a lot there, okay? So let's stop there just for a minute. What is the mystery of God that we looked at last week? The mystery of God is how God was actually going to save the world. So the mystery is now known. So here, Paul, through his missionary journeys, the apostles going around the world, Asia, Greece, Rome, all across the world, they are making known the mystery of God that was hid. So people knew a Messiah was coming, but they didn't know how God was gonna do it. Now Jesus had come, he had lived this life, he had been killed, he died on the cross, he bore our sins in his own body on the tree, the Bible says. He died, was buried, he rose again from the dead. Now we know the mystery. Now we know how God did it. So that is the mystery to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God. That means these people accepted the gospel. That's what it means. They acknowledged the mystery of God. They accepted. They came to a full assurance of understanding. I find it interesting that he uses the word assurance there. So they have full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ. That is that how God was gonna save the world through Jesus Christ. Now look at verse number three, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. So he says two things here, if you remember. He says in verse number two, he is talking about the gospel. He is talking about how Jesus came to pay for the sins of the world, to be that perfect sacrifice for our sins. And then look at verse number three, he says there's another thing. He says, oh by the way, he's like, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid, and that's why he's writing these letters. So basically what he's saying is, is that there's the gospel, and then there's the word of God that contains everything that you would ever need in your life. He's saying that God, in God are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Let that sink in for a minute. Let that sink in. Not just the gospel, but the simplest thing in the Bible is the gospel. If the Bible only contained the gospel, it would just be a couple of pages long. Because the Bible, the gospel is very simple, the Bible says. But not only that, but in God's word are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. So let's talk this evening about discovering God's treasure. Think about this for a minute. Think about this for a minute. Paul, think about where you are today. We're going to contrast where you are sitting tonight to where these people are at. Paul is literally trying, there is no visit from Paul. Paul is not in this church. Paul is literally trying to give these treasures of wisdom and knowledge to this church in Colossae through letters and through sending men, like Epaphras that he sent. Paul was writing, sending men, you know, but he had never been there and there's no evidence that he ever went there. Maybe he did and it's just not in the Bible. But the point being is Paul, you know, these people had a problem that they didn't know, they didn't know this wisdom from God. It was hid from them, Paul said. Now think about this. Most problems that people have in their life are because they don't know what God's word says. Think about that. They don't know what God's word said. And, you know, look, I'm going to show you how we don't really have this excuse. I was thinking about, you know, this whole, this comment that Paul made in verse number three, it says, all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid. All treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in God's word that we all have sitting in front of us right here. So think about this for a minute. Most people throughout history have had this problem. They've had two problems really. The first one is they didn't know what God's word said. You know, they just didn't know, they didn't have it. I mean, there was times I actually probably spent more time looking for this quote out of this book than I spent writing this sermon. But I had this book and it was written, this book is written in the 18th century, which means it was written sometime, you know, the story was from, it's a true story from sometime in 1700 something. And I like older books like this. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book because it's got some doctrinal issues in it, but it's called a hedge of thorns. But one thing stuck out to me and I went and I searched a couple of different books before I found this quote. But here, it's talking about the Bible. So here you have a family in this book that is in England. And it's sometime in the 1750s or 1760s. Let me read you this quote from this book. The book is called a hedge of thorns. The book says this, we did not own a Bible. It's this young girl telling about her family and how she grew up and who her parents were at the beginning of this book. She said, we did not own a Bible, but Mrs. Warring had us memorize scriptures as we learned the alphabet. Little did I know how valuable those lessons would be. And it wasn't long before father sold one of our two cows in order to purchase our very own book of scriptures. That just really stuck out to me when I read this book several years ago. But here's the thing, how many Bibles are in this room right now? I mean, I bet you that there is more than two dozen Bibles in this room. You can go pick up a Bible, you can literally pick up a King James Bible at Barnes and Noble or on Amazon for like $3. Well, maybe it's six now. I haven't checked for like four weeks, so who knows? But the point is, for just a couple bucks, you can get the entire word of God that's given to us. Now let me ask you this. I mean, I think that's probably the biggest thing we take for granted today is the Bible. I mean, think about this. People throughout history didn't have access to one. You know, many people, many people, I mean, there's stories of entire villages being persecuted because people had Bibles there. I mean, the Catholic Church came at them. Look, the Catholic Church, here's what they don't want you to have, a Bible. Because then you'll know, they're like, oh man, we can't teach this stuff and have people reading a Bible. They're gonna compare it and be like, oh yeah, this isn't right. People that had Bibles throughout history, if they even could get one, they sold half their possessions in that book to get a Bible. And we just have them everywhere. I mean, we'll clean up around here. They're just laying all over the place. You know, I mean, we take it for granted. People were persecuted for this. People died to help put the Bible together. Now, let me ask you this, what would you trade for your Bible? What if your Bible cost you $100,000? Would you have one? What if your Bible, what if having a Bible meant you couldn't have a house to live in? What would you choose? These are the kinds of things that people throughout history have had to decide on. And look, we don't have an excuse for having these all knowledge and all wisdom hid from us because Bibles are so easily accessible to us today. Anybody could have one. It's just, it's the biggest blessing that we have that I think we probably take for granted the most. Look down in Colossians chapter two. Here's another, here's a second problem. Here's a second problem. But we have the Bible, right? We have the Bible, but here's another thing. People don't know how to use it. People don't know how to use the Bible because I can't just take this Bible and sleep on it every single night. If I sleep on this Bible, it's not going to just absorb itself into my head and change the way I'm prosecuting my life. I mean, the thing is that people, they don't, they have one, they don't read it though. They don't read it, they don't understand it, and they certainly don't apply it in their life. Those are the problems that we have today. It's not that we don't have a Bible. Turn to Ephesians chapter four. Look, I'm going to show you tonight that nothing, nothing should be hid from you tonight. Turn to Ephesians chapter four. Paul, for some reason, starts out Colossians chapter two and he's saying, he's like, look, you've got to know these things that are hid from you. He's like, you've already acknowledged the gospel, you've acknowledged Christ. He's like, but you've got to know all this wisdom and knowledge. And he's trying to do it through men that he sends to them and through these letters that he writes to them. And I'll show you next week and on Sunday morning, you know, why he's doing this. But look at Ephesians chapter four and look at verse number 11. We have no excuse because we have the Word of God. We have the Word of God, but there's more. We not only have the Word of God, but we have, God gives us resources to know how to use it in our lives. Look at Ephesians chapter four and look at verse number 11. The Bible says this, it says, and he gave some. Look, this is God providing things for you when it starts out in verse number 11. It says, and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. Look, did he give us apostles? He sure did, right here. We have apostles that we can read right here. He gave some prophets, again, right here. We have the words of the prophets, the words that God gave the prophets right here. He gave some evangelists. This is Epaphras that he sent to Colossae. You know, they didn't have Paul, but he sent another evangelist out there and he gave some pastors and teachers. Why? Why did he provide all these things? Look, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Guess what? That's you. That's the church. That's this independent, local church is the body of Christ. And the Bible says that God gave you all these things. Look, we have the Bible, but there's more. He gave you these things to help you use the Bible, to help you apply the Bible, to help you walk the Bible in your life. Look, folks, this is the importance of a church and why God gave you these tools to help you apply the word of God. So you have the word, you have the tools, you have the... I mean, especially today, I mean, you have a pastor, kids, every single kid in here, you have a pastor and you have teachers. And I'm going to talk to the kids here in a little bit, but the point is, just like people don't appreciate the Bible, people don't appreciate church and people don't appreciate these things that God has provided for them to use the Bible. Look, the church, the pastor, the teachers, they help you apply the Bible in your life. That's why I'm here, is to serve you with whatever you need. Because, look, here's the thing, you're just like, can I just read the Bible? But here's the thing, the Bible covers everything. The Bible covers every single topic that you could ever want to know about or ever have questions about, with your family, with, you know, your relationships with other people, with sin. What's a sin and what's not? Boy, it's hard to tell these days. But not if you read the Bible, it's always the same. But here's the thing, the Bible does not cover every single scenario. Does that make sense? The Bible does not, you know, cover every scenario you're going to run into in your home, or every scenario you're going to run into at work. You know, it doesn't, you know, think about standards. Think about standards, just as an example. Think about, you know, we're supposed to be separated, we're supposed to be a peculiar people. People are supposed to look at us and say, that person is different, just because of how they look and how they act and how they sound. But you can tell a Christian today who's applying the Bible in their life within the first 30 seconds of the conversation with them, if they're applying the Bible in their life. Because, I mean, people just, people have filthy language now. It's just, it's normal now. But if you apply the Bible, you're different. You're set apart, you're separated, but we're supposed to be that way. So we follow these principles, but here's the thing, the Bible doesn't say, don't go to the beach. You know, the Bible doesn't say, don't go places where there's naked people. You know, but the Bible does teach on modesty and nakedness. The Bible talks about the principles, then we develop standards from those principles. And with that, you know, people may, you know, the Bible doesn't say, don't do cocaine. But the Bible says, be sober. Be sober, be sober. Dozens of times, we see sobriety brought up in the Bible. So the point is, the Bible gives you standards that helps you live your life. And then you apply those standards with the help of your pastor, of your teacher, whatever you need, the tools that God gives you on this earth, the tools within the church. Look, there's a reason that the sermons at this church are heavy in application for your life. There's a reason for it. It's on purpose because it's helping you take the standards of the Word of God and apply them to every situation. That's why I'll never run out of sermon topics. Because no matter how many times I preach on drunkenness or fornication or whatever other sin is out there that's being normalized today, there's always all these different scenarios and different angles and different, you know, Bible teaching on these things. Because the Bible just has all the answers to these things. And look, the church and these tools within the church are literally there to help you. Look, use your pastor. You know, you should use the teachers in your life in general. I mean, the same thing. I mean, who goes to work and just never wants to learn anything? Who goes to work and doesn't, you know, goes to work and starts a new job and then just never asks a question about their job? Look, how far is that person going to go? Look, the person who's growing is asking and using every tool that they have at their availability. Kids at school, you should be asking questions. The kid at school who's... Look, you're learning all these new things. Don't every single day you learn something new, you should be asking questions. And I guarantee you if your parents are sitting there and they're teaching you a new math lesson and your mom is sitting there and she's like, here's, you know, another math lesson, another, and you're just not asking any questions. You know, your mom is probably thinking, are you even paying attention? So, kids, look, use your teachers. And you know what? You will learn faster. You will learn faster. You'll become better at what you do in anything. But here's the thing. Look at Ephesians chapter 4. Keep your place there. Let's go a couple more verses down. Look at Ephesians chapter 4 and look down at verse number 13 because here's the thing. When we all start applying successfully, when we all start taking the Word of God and we start applying it successfully in our lives, something's going to happen. Look at verse 13. The Bible says, till we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. The Bible is saying here, the better you get at applying the Bible, you know, you're just going to be...you're not going to be tossed around anymore. You know, the Bible says that an unstable man, you know, he's just, look, an unstable man, look, turn to James chapter 1. Let's look at it. James chapter 1. Go to James chapter 1. If you're tossed to and fro, what does that mean for you? What's going to happen to you if you're tossed to and fro in your life? Look at James chapter 1. Look at verse number 8 of James chapter 1. The Bible says a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. If you're somebody that is tossed to and fro and you're not being grounded and you're not applying the Bible in your life, you're going to be unstable everywhere. The Bible says. And you're going to be carried about, look, you're going to be carried about with...you're just going to be unstable everywhere. You're going to be carried about with all kinds of weird doctrine. You're going to be like, okay, you know, maybe this is right. Maybe I heard this guy, you know, this philosopher say something, maybe that's right. But that's because you're not applying the Bible in your life and you're not growing as Ephesians chapter 4 said that you were. Every slight of man you're going to be fooled by. If you're going through life and every single deceitful person, like, hones in on you and fools you, it's because you're not grounded, you're not mature in the Bible. You're not growing. But you have no excuse because you have the Bible and you have all these tools that God gave you to be grounded in the Bible, to learn the Bible, and to apply the Bible successfully in your life. That's the whole point of Colossians chapter 2, the introduction that Paul is getting to here. He says, if you read the Bible and you successfully apply it in your life, nothing should be hid from you, especially us, because we have all the tools. We have all the tools. There is literally nothing but upside for us. You know, I was thinking about this wedding. We're going to a wedding in Sacramento at Verity Baptist Church. We're going to a wedding this weekend. And, you know, there's a lot of weddings. And we're trying to go to all, there's many of these weddings we possibly can, and here's why. Because over the last five or six years, we've seen these kids grow up in this church. And we've seen, look, you know what these weddings are? These weddings are a proof. I'm talking about like a mathematical proof. It's a proof that God's word works in people's lives. These kids grow up from being young teenagers. I won't mention any names, but this kid that I'm going to his wedding, he's just a little kid. When we met him a few years ago, we first moved there. But now they just grow up and they mature in the Word of God and they meet someone in the church that has also grown up and matured in the Word of God. Look, it is a proof of the Word of God and its successful application in young people's lives. And it is so great to see. That's why, I mean, it's so exciting to go to these weddings. But the thing is, for us, there is no excuse for us for anything to be kids. Parents, I could say the same thing. Kids, kids, you need to be asking your teachers. But parents, this is why parents spending time with your kids is so important. I want my kids to know that as they get older and they make decisions, and they have ups and they have downs, I want them to know that they have a support structure in their life. You know that kids, even when they're young, you know kids that are like six, seven years old, you know they can have ups and downs? You think, oh, what kind of serious problem could a kid that's six or seven have? But here's the thing, it might be serious then, but it's not serious to the scope of what an adult goes through. But it's still a serious thing. Here's the thing, your kids have to know that they can talk to you about anything that's on their mind. They need to know that they can ask you a question about anything that's on their mind. We have told our kids this from the youngest age, that you can talk to us about anything. And we still tell them now. We still tell them the same thing now. I mean, I purposely bring things up to my kids that I know that they don't want to talk about. I want them to know, and my daughter's laughing right now, but the thing is, I do it on purpose. Because I want my kids to know that they can bring anything to me. I mean, look, these kids that go out and they don't tell their parents what's going on in their life, terrible stories come from that. Terrible things come from that. It'll be nothing but positive for you if you can successfully do this. Kids that lock their feelings inside, that's heading for disaster right there. And it can be a dangerous situation, especially in the world that we live in today. Here's three T's. I got three T's for you on how to get your kids to talk to you about anything that's on their mind. Here's what you need to do. There's three T's right here. The first one is this. You need to spend time with them. Individual one-on-one time. You know what, I was thinking a great, I had one of my kids just talking my ear off for like an hour today. All the things that he was learning today and all this, you think, where do you find time for one of your kids for just an hour? I'm not going with my son and you're just talking to me, we're just talking about stuff back and forth. And you know, not really people, not too many people at the door wanted to talk to us, but that's fine. Because I was talking to him and he was talking to me. It was a great time. The first thing is you need to spend individual time with all your children. Individual time. They need to be able to spend individual time with their mom and their dad. You need to invent things where you can spend that time with them. The second one is this, here's the second T. Talk. You need to talk to them. You need to talk to them about everything. You need to bring up things that they don't want to talk about. We go visit somewhere and I told my dog, dad, who talked to you? Any boys talk to you? What are their names? How long did they talk to you? Dad, stop it, stop it. Tell me, who were they? This is what I do. And then we laugh and all this, but here's the thing. Your kids need to know that they can talk to you about anything. Here's the big one right here. And this is the one that most people fail at. This is the one that most people fail at. Here's the third T. Trust. Your kids need to trust you. If your kids don't trust you, you have no chance. You know what that means? You know what that means? You can't be a hypocrite. You can't be a hypocrite in your life. You can't be sitting here telling your kids all these rules and all these standards and all that, you know, preaching the Bible at them, and then, you know, you just live the Bible yourself. You know, look, we're not saved by our works, but our kids are watching us. And if you want to be profitable, you will have works in your life. Otherwise, you could be the same Christian that has no works. Hey, you're going to heaven, buddy, but no one will profit from you, including your own kids. What kind of terrible Christian life is that? Your kids need to trust you. And kids are hypocrite detectors. I'm telling you, they can see it when they're like four. It's ridiculous. God designed it that way. These kids can see hypocrisy. This is why the person that sends their kids to public school has almost no chance. Because they go to the wolves, and then the wolves start eating them. And then the kids, well, they don't want to come to you because they're like, you threw me here. You put me in with these wolves. You are already starting out with no credibility. If you want your kids to have a biblical worldview and reject all this garbage that is being taught in everything today, you can't throw them into it and expect them to come to you when they're having problems with them. Kids are going to eat them up. They're going to eat them up. They're not strong enough. They're not strong enough. We're building kids here. We're building men here. They're not men yet. We're building them. Everything in the Bible is talking about bringing up children, training children, not throwing them out there. Not, you know, the Southern Baptist Convention was like, no, you should keep them in the public school because they can be a witness to other kids. No. Paul was a witness. Paul was a man, and he was beaten and stoned and whipped and imprisoned. Look, a child is not strong enough for that. We need to protect our children. They need to know that we're there to protect them. They've got to trust that you'll protect them. You can't live a hypocritical life. You can't sit here and teach your kids and tell them that they need to follow the Bible and do these things, and they get saved, and you're like, hey, you got to do this and this, and we should never go to church. It's not going to work. I mean, you can try it. Many people have tried it. It's just not going to work because you're a hypocrite. Look at verse 15 of Ephesians chapter 4. Verse 15. Talking about pastors and teachers. Here's my job right here. Verse 15, but speaking the truth in love. So look, when these pastors and teachers, they speak the truth in love to you. And then guess what? When they speak the truth in love to you, guess what will happen? You'll grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. But guess what? You know, that's exactly what Paul was saying in Colossians chapter 2. Growing up into him in all things, you'll learn all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Exactly what Paul's talking about in Colossians chapter 2. Both through preaching, look, and even through counsel. But people come to me and, you know, sometimes I think people don't come to me because they don't want to do what they think I'll tell them. But look, my job is to speak the truth to you. I had someone tell me a few months ago, you know, I'm just not going to take care of others. Look, that doesn't hurt my feelings. I mean, that doesn't bother me. You know, I mean, fine. I mean, my job is to speak the truth in love and then the rest is on you. And if you need any kind of help in prosecuting that or doing, look, I'll do anything for you. If you don't know that, know that. I'll do anything I can to help you at any time. Well, my job is to speak the truth in love. Look at verse 16. From whom the whole body fitly, look, this is, I mean, this is the beautiful thing about it because this is what will happen. From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supply it, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. All of this creates a church that is, in verse 16, he says it's increasing. Look, all this creates a church that is spiritually increasing and loving amongst the members. Look at Hebrews chapter 10 and look at verse 24. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24. Hebrews chapter 10 verse number 24. Look what the Bible says. It says, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. That's, we're supposed to inspire each other with, you know, unto love and good works. And then, of course, famous verse, verse 25, by going to church, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is. What is the manner of a lot of people is today? But exhorting one another. That means encouraging one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Look, imagine this. Imagine this. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 4. Imagine this. He keeps saying this. He was keep edifying itself in love, provoking to good works unto love. I mean, imagine if we had a church, I mean, just let's get crazy for a minute here. Imagine if we had a church and we all cared about each other. Wow. Exactly. I mean, that would be amazing. Imagine if we all looked out for one another. I mean, what a great environment that would be. There's just something about a great team. You know what I'm saying? That's what the Bible is saying here. The Bible is saying, you know what, you should be a great team. You should be working together. And guess what? Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 4. Look at verse number 9. Together as a team that's fitly joined together, we will accomplish much more. Look at verse number 9. Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow, but woe to him that is alone when he falls. We have not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat, but how can one be warm alone? I can tell you right now that there's already been times, many times during this ministry where all of you have lifted me up. Where if I was alone during those times, it would have been difficult for me. Say, you're the pastor. Well, look. Two are better than one. And the more, look what it does as we get down to verse number 12. If two lie together, then they have heat, but how can one be warm? So we went from one, now we have two. Look at verse 12. And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. You see what the Bible's doing here? It's saying one is not good, two is better, then it says three is even better. This is talking about a church. This is talking about a bunch of people that are fitly joined together in the faith as they search for all wisdom and knowledge from God's Word. And the more that we can get from it, go back to Colossians chapter 2, the more we can get this wisdom unhidden in our lives, which we have no excuse for. We don't have Paul just writing us a letter. We have the entire Word of God at our fingertips whenever we want it. The better we can get at this, the stronger we will be. And that is what Paul is getting at here, because Paul is preparing these people for something. In Colossians chapter 2, look at verse number 4. The Bible says, and this I say, he's saying this, he's saying you need to know these things. You need to not only acknowledge Christ and the gospel and be saved, but you need to know this knowledge that is hid from you. You need to know what the Word of God has for you. And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. He's saying, you need to know this in case somebody tries, beguile means to charm you in a deceptive way. He's saying, for though I be absent in the flesh, see, he's not there. He's not there. Yet I am with you in the Spirit, joying and beholding your order in the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As he had therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him, rooted and built up in him. He says the same thing in verse number 6. He said the same thing, you've already acknowledged the gospel, now you need to apply the Bible in your life. He's saying, because there's people that are coming to try to deceive you often. He's trying to prepare them for this. Look at verse 7, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as he had been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Boy, wouldn't that be a place to be? Just be rooted and grounded in the faith, that whoever tried to deceive you, whatever came along, you're just like, whatever, that's not what the Bible says. I'm with the Bible. But life gets real easy, folks. It gets real easy, and guess what? As your brothers and sisters are together with you, it's even easier. I mean, look, at my family, we've been separated, we've been, you know, peculiar, we've been alone in this, and it's much easier for the church. You can withstand all these things with the church, because you're living these things together. It's hard to be different alone. It just is. Colossals chapter 2 is about to show us why we need these things ungid from us, because in your life, people are going to try to deceive you. They're going to try to, they're going to try to tell you that what you're doing is wrong. They're going to try to tell you that you should be like everybody else. They're going to try to tell you that, you know what, because, you know what, this might get hard. They're going to be like, you know, why did you just have the easier way? Why did you just go the easier route? You know what? It may sound good. That's what the Bible is saying. Beguile means they're going to tickle your ears. It's going to sound better. It's not really, my God's not really fair, I think, sometimes. You know, sitting here, I have to speak the truth and love to you, and the Bible says that I'm not going to be afraid of your faces, because, you know what that's saying? Because a lot of times, you're not going to like what it's saying. A lot of times, you know, you're going to sit there, and I'm going to be just throwing the Bible in your face, and you're going to be like, and look, I can see it on your face. The Bible's true. But here, these people, they just say all these good things, and all these wonderful things, but those things will destroy you. And that's why Paul is saying that these things need to be unhid from you, and that you'll be rooted, and you'll be built up in Him. And when these things come, you're just like, yeah, that's Paul. We need all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And here's the thing, when you know all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, all things will be shown as true and false easily. When you shine the light of the Bible on things, and that's what we're going to do next week, that's what we're going to do Sunday morning, we're just going to take the wisdom and the knowledge of the Bible, and we're going to shine it on some pretty, pretty good sounding things in this world, and you're going to see how wicked those things are. You're going to see how bad the people that are teaching those things are, and how dangerous those things are. And look, some of these things, especially the ones we're going to be talking about on Sunday morning, some of them are pretty elaborate. And some of them are pretty, I mean, unless you have the Bible, you will not be able to tell the truth. But with the Bible, with the Bible, the more you will just easily be able to recognize these things. And I'll show you, especially in this particular case on Sunday morning, how we can no more be children of two and twelve when it comes to people that want to tell you how smart they are, and want to tell you how much they know about things. But I'm going to show you how it's really them that are confused and confounded, and I'm going to show you that God did it for a reason. That's what Paul's getting at with these people. He knows that there's things coming at these people, and he knows that it's included and built up. And he's not even there. He's sending people and writing letters. We have every single advantage. There is no excuse for us to fail. There is no excuse for our children to fail. I don't care how wicked the world gets. You can still raise godly children. In this country today. It's possible I'm watching it happen. I'm watching it happen. I'm going to a wedding on Saturday.