Colossians, Part 6
Type: Wednesday Evening Service
Series: Colossians
Sermon: Part 6
🗣️ Speaker: Pastor Jeff Booth
True spiritual strength comes from being deeply rooted in Christ — through prayer, encouragement, and a growing knowledge of God's word — rather than being swayed by the persuasive but empty teachings the world offers. Unity among believers is not achieved through politics or shared preferences, but through a pure love for Jesus that knits hearts together across every difference. No matter what trials or attacks come, a faith grounded in Christ remains unshaken, because those planted in Him are established, built up, and positioned for victory.
ℹ️ Tip: The video is set to start at the beginning of the sermon, but you can scrub the playhead to any part of the service. ℹ️
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How many sense the presence of the Lord here tonight?
Amen.
Can we just right where you're seated, can you just lift your hands and close your eyes and say, thank you, Lord, for your presence.
Thank you that truly a miracle can happen even right now.
Thank you that you are moving in our midst.
Thank you that you are with us.
Thank you that the evidence is all around.
Even as we look around and see one another, the testimonies of your grace Your radical love displayed for us.
Lord, we thank you.
God, tonight we ask that you would do miracles, that you would heal.
God, that you would do what man cannot do.
You would restore.
You would make new.
God, may words of wisdom be given and words of knowledge, Lord.
May we be encouraged in your presence tonight.
In the mighty name of Jesus.
Amen.
Can I just encourage you tonight?
Come with expectation.
Prepare even now for the altar time don't don't rush out uh our prayer team they they don't just show up and just kind of half hazardly just kind of Pray for you they are prepared they are believing God for miracles and you need to come with your faith and your expectation And we're gonna see God do some incredible things, amen, in in each of our lives.
I look around the room tonight and that song uh said the evidence is all around.
All I could think about is the lives that are represented in this room right now that Many of us, there were a time in our lives we never thought we'd be in church.
In a building they they call church Because we are the church, right?
But we never thought we'd be part of that.
We thought that was crazier, that was sillier, it didn't make sense.
But here we are, by the grace of God, he's transformed us.
Some of you, some of you had drug problems, some of you had alcohol problems.
Some of you had marriage problems.
You had all kinds of issues going on, and he rescued us.
Amen.
Come on, give him a clap offering of praise because he rescued us.
And Jesus is the same yesterday, today. and forever.
What he did 10 years ago, he can do today.
Amen.
So we're believing for that and expecting expecting miracles, expecting signs and wonders, expecting transformed lives.
Because that's what he does.
And we look around the room and we can see that as we look at each other.
How many was Sunday just an amazing day together?
Wow.
Both services were just truly amazing.
And Pastor's message, the get smart message was like Really cool, was it not?
It was really good.
And the the the truths that were uh given through God's word.
Uh you know it it is just powerful.
It helps us.
And this Sunday, I want to, the the series is not over, but this Sunday He's going to be talking more about communication, right?
So I don't know about you.
I've been married 43 years, and she still doesn't listen to me.
Maybe it's the other way around.
But can I tell you a communication is key to a successful marriage, a family, just life in general, being able to communicate properly, being able to listen, and I know the pastor is going to bring it this Sunday and God has a word for us that's to transform us and help us to be better communicators and to have the marriages and families and and relationships that God really desires us to have.
So I encourage you be here.
Bring somebody with you.
There's somebody you know that needs to hear what's going to be shared this Sunday.
So let's be a bringer.
Look at your neighbor and say, be a bringer.
Be a bringer.
We're gonna We're going to continue on tonight in our Colossians series in chapter 2.
And verse 1 says, For I want you to know, Colossians 2, verse 1, for I want you to know how great I have uh I think they missed a word in there.
It should say, for I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all Who, there we go, have not seen my seen me face to face.
I might just read my own here for a minute.
That screen throws me off.
But what I was trying to interject here is the King James Version throws in that conflict.
Instead of struggle.
He says, how great a conflict and struggle I have for you.
Look at your neighbor and say, For you.
And for those that lay in the sea, and for all who have not seen me face to face.
We're gonna I want us to notice Paul's conflict for the believers in Colossae and Laodicea, including the believers who had never seen him. face to face.
This great conflict inside Paul, it wasn't that Paul was fighting with others about the Colossian Christians, the conflict that Paul is describing here in this verse is his spiritual warfare and the heartfelt care for the Colossians because there's there's false teachings going on.
Y'all with me?
He's concerned and he has care for them and he's warring in the spirit on their behalf.
We're going to get a little deeper into that in just a little bit.
But he, just as he used athletic imagery in Colossians 1. 29, when he was writing concerning his calling to preach, he said this.
I also labor striving.
He uses that word striving according to his working which worketh in me mightily.
Do a little King James there.
It's kind of hard to do that.
Worketh and striveth.
But we'll get her done.
Some of you some of you cut your teeth on King James.
As a teenager, I'd read, I see you waving back there.
I used to read King James, but I would change the words as I was reading I didn't do that tonight.
He was focusing on this word striving, and he continues on with that sports metaphor in chapter two by using this phrase great conflict.
Paul is battling in prayer and intercession for the believers.
And he goes on to say, for many as have not seen my face in the flesh.
Remember, Paul had never been to Colossae.
So these believers there had never seen Paul in the flesh.
They never saw him face to face.
Yet Paul's authority and care for these believers extended to those that He had never met, he had never seen those that he had never seen face to face.
Just as Paul prayed for the believers, he had never met face to face.
You and I are often drawn in the nighttime hours and in other hours of the day to begin to pray for believers that maybe we've never even met.
The Holy Spirit will bring a nation to our mind.
He will bring a missionary to our thought or our heart or a church to your heart.
And you feel this burden to pray for them and you don't even know all that is going on, but the Holy Spirit is drawing you into this.
Place of prayer.
There is such power when we pray as the Holy Spirit leads us, and Paul is in great conflict for these believers through prayer.
And he goes on to list the concerns and his goals about this spiritual conflict.
Colossians 2, verses 2 and 3 says, that their hearts may be encouraged.
Somebody just shout, encouraged.
That's a powerful word and something we're going to talk about here.
Hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding.
And the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Somebody say all.
Paul encouraged the believers.
He wanted these believers to be encouraged because he was concerned about their enthusiasm.
He was, you might say, he was concerned about them keeping the fire burning in their hearts.
And not letting it burn out because of the false teachings that they were up against.
And he knew that if they became discouraged, Paul knew that downcast Christians are easy prey for the world.
For our flesh and the devil has an inroad.
Have you ever found that to be true?
When you get discouraged, it seems to Crack a door open for the enemy to attack us and mainly in our mind and our thought process and tra uh attack us in our vulnerability Paul wants to encourage these believers to stay strong in the faith despite their difficult situation and challenges.
Church, we must be aware when discouragement comes upon us.
And it comes at us in various ways, and our awareness must lead us to worship.
Put on a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
When you feel discouraged, remember David felt discouraged at one point because all of his warriors, his mighty men wanted to kill him, and he decided to encourage himself in the Lord.
He began to remind himself of all the times that God had made him through a battle.
God had given him victory.
God had given him triumph.
God had been with him.
And he began to encourage himself.
Sometimes you got to encourage yourself and tell yourself again how good God has been to you.
Hello, somebody.
I look back on my life and God has been so good to me.
There are times when I want to complain.
There's times when I want to, I'll be honest, there's times when I want to throw in the towel, but I feel guilty throwing in the towel because he's just been too good to me.
And it seems like it's always the time when you want to throw in the towel that he shows up in a real tangible way and build your spirit and your faith back up.
I'm so blessed to be part of a church where I know without a shadow of a doubt, and I know this to be true, that there are people in this church that are praying for me.
Terry and I, we have that y'all get that little magnet of Pastor and Robin to pray for them?
It's on our refrigerator.
I can't go get any food without stopping and praying for my pastor.
How many know that's a good thing?
Because sometimes you don't know what he's going through.
You don't know what Robin may be going through.
We don't know what each other is going through at different times, but we begin to pray and intercede.
I'm so glad that this church, there are people who have come up to me and said, I've been praying for you, and I kind of want to tell them, Well, you have no idea what's been going on in our lives and we appreciate the prayers.
I just say thank you.
I appreciate that, but it encourages me.
It builds my faith.
It tells me because sometimes we don't hear that audible voice of God.
Hello And if somebody comes up to you and says, hey, I just want you to know you've been on my heart and my mind, and I've been praying for you.
And it's like, man, that's all I need right now.
That's just that's God right there, letting me know he's got it all under control.
He's with me.
Look at your neighbor and say, He's with you.
Many times for me, when especially when I was a lead pastor for 13 years, Monday was my hardest day.
Because always rehashing Sunday.
I shouldn't have said this.
Why did I say that?
We should have done this.
Was that me or was that God?
And you give you sometimes you don't understand and uh To preach is exhausting.
There is so much, it's almost like an athletic event, to be quite honest.
The preparation that goes in, because I'm telling you the the the men and women on this staff They don't take this lightly, standing up and being able to divide God's word and and to share it with you.
Don't take it lightly And there's a lot of heart, soul, sweat, blood, tears, and just seeking God to make sure we're speaking what he desires us to speak.
And there's a lot that you pour in, and Monday comes and you are just spent.
And the enemy knows that.
And I had people in my church in Omaha that it was like a little army.
It was my Monday prayer army.
That I knew they were praying for me.
Because when you're weak, when you get discouraged, the enemy can come in and mess with your mind in ways that really discourage you even further.
And put you in a place that God does not want you to be in.
I'm thankful that Oxford Assembly is a house of prayer.
That we believe in prayer and we pray for one another and encourage one another with our prayers.
Amen.
The word Paul uses, the Greek word for encourage is paraclane.
And sometimes that word means to comfort.
Sometimes it means to exhort, but it always at the back of it there is this idea of enabling a person to meet some difficult situation with confidence.
And gallantry.
In other words, Paul wanted these Christians to be fit for heroic action.
I love this because encouragement can propel a person.
Encouragement can build a person up.
And Paul reminds us that the power of encouragement is a weapon that is greater than discouragement that the enemy throws at us and it can motivate us and propel propel us To do great things for God and to trust God for great things and to build our faith up.
Encouragement is a difference maker And he goes on to say, being knit together in love.
Paul wanted this because he was concerned about their unity.
Somebody say unity.
Unity comes from pure love.
Not from coercion of I give you what you want, you give me what I want, and we kind of make a deal and over preferences.
No It really, unity is about a pure love for one another and a pure love for Jesus.
A love for Jesus unites us and brings us together despite ethnicity.
Denomination, economic status, or anything else that the world uses to try and divide us.
See, the Republican Party can never unite Christians It's quiet in this church.
The Republican Party.
Well, it will never happen.
Never.
I'm gonna say it again.
It will never happen.
The Democratic Party can never unite Christians, can't unite America one lick.
Can't do it.
Why?
Because their platforms are not built on love.
They can't unify us because they're not built on love.
It's built on selfish desires.
It's built on a platform. for their selfish desires.
It's not built on love and unity can only come from a pure, pure love that only comes from Christ.
See the the donkey and the elephant are cute emblems, but it's only the Lamb of God that can unite us in a central love for Christ. that extends to all humanity.
Everybody say all.
See, we need to be knit more together here in love at OAG.
And I wrote this And I thought I need to rewrite that because we actually do a pretty good job of loving one another.
I've told you this before when we came here for our first time, y'all were like, too much.
Too kind.
Too loving if that's possible.
Too wanting to hug.
It's like, okay, I don't even know you.
You up on you up in my space.
Huh.
But there's a genuine love in this house a genuine love in this house for one another and we can even build on that and have even my wife I was thinking about this when we were talking about being knit together The body knit together.
My wife used to do this.
Is it crochet?
Crochet.
I remember I'll tell a terrible story.
But this is not in my notes, it's just coming to me so it could not really go well here.
But we uh I think we were dating and I had a 1971 Dotson 240Z.
Yellow.
And uh And we had a lot of fun when that car and I remember one time I made it from my hometown to Indianapolis was about our Fifteen minutes.
Well, one day we made it in 45 minutes.
And and later on in life Not I mean I'm like 19 years old.
I really didn't think about it then, but I'm like 35 thinking we probably were about dead and God saved us.
That was the dumbest thing I'd ever done.
But we're doing triple digits.
And she's over in the passenger seat just knitting and crocheting whatever that is.
And I just remember that she was calm and I thought I was calm, but I was nervous.
I was racing her brother.
And uh I don't know why I'm telling this story, other than the fact when you get done with all that crocheting and knitting It's such a beautiful blanket or whatever quilt, whatever it is that you're making, and it's so woven together.
And I think Paul is trying to give us that picture of that unity being knitted together as we are interlocked.
We are interwoven.
Together there's such a love that we can't be separated.
Are y'all with me?
I'm telling you, God is about to do something at Oxford Assembly.
And there are gonna be people coming that we probably didn't expect would come and get saved, but there's gonna be a harvest of souls, and we are gonna be so knit together in love and we're gonna make room for them in the whole big quilt, blanket, whatever you want to call it. call it this body called Oxford Assembly.
We're going to continue to work on that unity of love because that's where God pours his blessing out.
That's where God does great things.
So look at your neighbor and say, get ready, it's coming.
I love this and I I didn't give this to Pastor Daniel to pop up there, but uh I just love this in the message Bible.
So if you allow me, and I it's not gonna be on the screen, so just listen carefully.
This because we're He's talking about love.
He's talking about being knit together in in in this in this unity.
And Paul is writing this, you know this, 1 Corinthians 13.
But listen to the way the message Bible explains it.
I if I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy, but don't love I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
If I speak God's word with power, revealing all of his mysteries and making everything as plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, jump and the mountain jump. jumps, but I don't love.
I'm nothing.
If I give everything to I own to the poor and even go to the state to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've Gotten nowhere.
So no matter what I say, no matter what I believe, no matter what I do, I am bankrupt without love.
Because love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than it does for itself.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut, doesn't have a swelled head, doesn't force itself on others, isn't always me first.
Doesn't have a s doesn't uh doesn't have a swelled head.
I said that doesn't fly off the handle.
I'm getting new glasses here in a week or two.
My eyes are jacked up.
I'm just telling you that right now.
Just ask my wife.
Doesn't fly off the handle.
Can I tell you?
I'm not going to tell you.
Does he keep score of the sins of others?
Ooh, that's a big one.
Love doesn't keep score of the sins of others, doesn't revel when others grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of truth.
Puts up with anything, trusts God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end.
Love never dies But for right now, until the completeness comes, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation.
Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly.
And the best of the three, the greatest is love.
Look at your neighbor and say, love.
This is the kind of love that knits our hearts together and binds us with an unbreakable bond through Christ Jesus our Lord.
He goes on to say, attain to all the riches of the full assurance of the understanding to the knowledge of the mystery Paul wanted this because he was concerned about their understanding.
He knew that their unity and steadfastness was not just a matter of love, but also of growing together. in God's truth.
You know, it's one thing.
I it's one thing to have our heart moved and To make a decision for Christ, to love Jesus, it's another thing to walk in truth Hello?
You have to grow in that.
You have to chase it.
You have to desire it.
You have to You have to go after God's truth.
You have to pursue Him, pursue His word, pursue a relationship with Him on a daily basis.
And Paul knew that their unity not only came from love, but also from the truth.
From both being knit together in love and listen and growing in the understanding and knowledge of God's truth.
I'm just gonna tell you, I grew up in a really crazy Pentecostal background.
And there was there were at times there was a lot of emotionalism, but in the midst of it, saw God do incredible radical things.
But I knew a lot of people who didn't grow in understanding the knowledge.
We had experiences Hello?
And we had exciting times.
But some of those people when I was a kid, when I was 25, they were still in that same place spiritually.
Do you hear what I'm saying?
We have to grow in knowledge and understanding.
Because I'm telling you, in experience, we need experiences with the Lord.
Don't get me wrong, but I'm telling you, it's it's understanding and knowledge of the truth of God's word that's gonna get you on solid ground.
Hello?
We can we can't live on the mountaintop all the time of these glorious, I'd love to, of just experience with the Lord But we have to live in life every day.
And you've got to have knowledge.
You've got to have understanding of the truth of God's word to make it in this life.
You have to And we have to grow up.
We talked about that a little bit last week, I believe.
See, the true wisdom Paul wanted them to know in Jesus would bring them together.
Knit them together in love, instead of dividing them the way that the false teachings and false wisdom was doing.
For Paul, real riches were found in the believers' full assurance There were many that lacked full assurance about the character of God, the goodness of God, and they were unconvinced that he really was good and loving.
Man, I that that was the church I grew up in.
I was I was I was fearful of God in a in a bad way.
You know what I'm saying?
It's like I was always watching my step because you know every every Every December 31st, New Year's Eve, watch night service, dear God, if I didn't have all my sins cleansed at 11. 59 at midnight, I was going to hell.
Hello, somebody.
See, with knowledge and understanding of the truth, I can walk in assurance.
Of my relationship of who God is.
See, others lacked full assurance of their salvation and wonder if their Christian life was even for real.
Great freedom and confidence comes when we come to this full assurance and we walk in truth. through the knowledge of God's word.
I forget what the stats are.
We've talked about this before, but there's some crazy stat.
Like if you if you only read the Bible once a week It's like you you never really you never really live it out.
It's like four days changes everything A minimum of four days.
And it's like, man, I got to have food every day.
I do.
I have to talk to my wife every day Or we we don't we don't grow.
We have to communicate.
We have to spend time together.
And sometimes we We don't spend the time with the Lord that we need.
It's just on a Sunday morning or a Wednesday night.
I know that's not you.
I'm talking to those people that other church down the road.
Okay.
It's not us.
Great freedom comes when we and we have this full assurance we walk in truth through the knowledge of God's word.
See, others might lead these Christian believers astray, Paul and the Colossian believers, with wild talk of mysteries.
But there was one mystery above all others that Paul was sharing with them, the mystery of God's loving purpose disclosed in Jesus Christ alone.
And Paul's concern was that they should come to know this all-surpassing mystery and know it as an indwelling presence.
He goes on to say, Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
This is an important idea in Paul's letter to the Colossians.
With this, Paul refuted some of the bad teaching that was troubling the the Colossian Christians.
They were influenced by teachers who told them to seek the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, but not to seek them through Christ.
And Paul wrote, you will only find all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in Christ.
He has them all.
It's not wrong to seek after wisdom and knowledge, but we must seek it. all through Christ.
See, when Paul said this wisdom is hidden in Christ, he used an ancient Greek word Apocrufos.
You don't even know if I said it right or not.
I bet he does though.
Understand that Paul's very use of that word.
Listen, it's awesome.
Paul, I love I love Paul because sometimes I love people like this that they they say things that uh it's I don't know if you know David Ravenhill.
Uh it's a Leonard Ravenhill's son, but David Ravenhill is is really, we called him the Velvet Hammer.
Because it was moments later you realize that you just got smashed.
He just did it in such a way.
And Paul is kind of doing that here.
Paul's very use of this word.
Apocryphos is a blow aimed at the Gnostics because the Gnostics believed that a great mass of elaborate knowledge was necessary for one's salvation.
And that knowledge they set down in their books, which they called the Apocryphos.
Because those books were barred to the ordinary man.
It was just for them.
It was information just for them.
And so what Paul was doing Paul wanted everyone to know that real wisdom was not hidden in somebody's secret books out here, but it was deposited in the person of Jesus Christ so that all could access that wisdom and knowledge.
I love how he does that.
So for us today, Colossians 2.
4, I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.
This is Paul's strong warning.
Those who told the Colossians to find wisdom and knowledge apart from the simplicity of Christ were very persuasive.
The lure of hidden and deep wisdom and knowledge can be both strong and deceptive.
But take note that Paul did not say, listen carefully, he did not say that they had already been deceived, but he clearly saw the danger to be deceived, and he was warning them about it.
Remember the phrase, see something, say something?
Y'all remember that?
See something, say something.
We used to use that in the hood all the time.
See something, say something.
It's a good reminder for us.
This is what Paul did.
He saw something that could be harmful to believers.
And he spoke up about it and he warned them.
Florida.
And uh There was a an individual that was the evangelist for that, that I'm not I'm not here to cast people down, but I was a little I'm not so sure about this There's just some weird stuff going on.
And I had some very close friends who were going to make the trek from Nebraska down to Lakeland and be a part of where the fire was burning next, you know?
And uh Fire chasers sometimes get it get burned.
And I told them before they left, I'm just telling you, I love you guys, but I'm concerned about you And I said, don't let anyone lay hands on you suddenly.
Don't just let anybody that you don't know lay their hands on you and pray for you.
And there was just some weird stuff that was going on.
They come back and come to find out the evangelist, there was immorality going on, there was other stuff going on, his ministry fell apart.
He's out of the picture, their marriage falls apart.
We chase fires Instead of being rooted in a local house of worship.
See, you can chase fires and not be accountable for anything You can run from one good service to another and visit this church and that church, and there's no accountability.
There's really no growth.
It's just excitement.
Now, that's a broad statement, and I could be wrong about that.
It's just my opinion over many years in ministry.
That there's something that happens when you are Rooted in the house of God and a local fellowship to where you build relationship and there's accountability.
I wonder how many of our friends and family members would still be serving Jesus today if someone would have just said something when they saw warning signs.
Because sometimes we don't want to be the one to say, hey, you better be careful about that.
I just grew up with A lot of older guys in my life that didn't mind grabbing me from the back of the neck and say, you're not going there.
You're not doing that.
We don't do that.
I wasn't perfect.
That's why they grabbed me from the back of the neck But I'm glad that those men were in my life to warn me.
They saw things I didn't see.
Are y'all with me tonight?
Paul is warning, and there are warnings for us today.
See I'm not here to condemn anybody.
I'm going to say it.
But marriage is between a man and a woman.
Hello?
Life begins at conception.
There are only two genders.
Male and female, okay?
If you're struggling at those areas, it's okay.
If you're struggling You can come to a place of truth.
You can come out of darkness into light.
We don't condemn people who struggle in areas because one time we struggled in some areas and somebody showed us the way to truth and light.
Hello, somebody.
And that's what we need to do is love people into the kingdom. kingdom, not condemn them into the kingdom, but we must speak truth and we must not go with the lies of the world and let it infiltrate the church and by the lie.
I watched a pastor today, I don't even want to call him a pastor of a megachurch in Atlanta.
And they were anointing him with the female spirit of God, Jehovah.
I'm like the devil is a liar.
And people are just applauding and marching into this trap.
We have to warn.
Anyone who claims to be a minister and preaches otherwise is a liar because they're preaching contrary to the infallible word of God.
2 Timothy 3 reminds us all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching.
Rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
This word is to is helps is teaches us the ways of God. rebukes us when we're out of order, corrects us, and trains us in righteousness.
How many know that's a good thing?
My mom's a little bitty gal But she didn't mind taking the stick to my backside when I needed it.
And I'm thankful for that now.
It wasn't then, but I'm thankful for it now.
Proverbs 27:6 says, faithful are the wounds of a friend.
But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
A true friend will speak the truth even when it hurts.
These wounds are not meant to harm you, but to correct, to refine you, and to protect you.
It might sound simple, but deceivers are deceivers.
My dad used to tell me a crook knows a crook.
Because he was a crook.
He could point people out.
See, deceivers are deceivers.
They won't announce their false doctrine as false doctrine.
And it will often be similar similar enough to the truth to be dangerous, persuasive, and tickle our ears to satisfy our fleshly desires that are at war with the Christ that is in us.
Hello?
I know it's been going on for a long time, but I would say since the COVID pandemic, the world's culture has been bombarded with intellectual speech that sounds persuasive and believable.
Because these are smart people talking to us, right?
But please forgive me.
This is not in the Bible.
This is just the book of Jeff.
Why is it that the ones with the highest degree and the most degrees oftentimes proclaim the most insane ideas that betray common sense?
And I am not at all against education.
My wife has her master's degree in education.
All of our kids went to university.
Two of our kids have masters, one of our kids just got his PhD.
So education is good, but when it's not rooted in Christ, it can lead to some dangerous places.
It must be rooted. in Christ.
See, whether it's COVID or a political speech or cultural defining of marriage and sexuality, they use persuasive speech to lure you and draw you away from the truth.
And yes, there are many today behind pulpits that are speaking lies and twisting God's word for their own personal gain.
Beware of deceptive and persuasive words.
God help our discernment to increase in these days so that we don't drift away.
Hello, somebody.
You can't come to church once a month.
What if what if I just went home to my wife once a month and said, we're doing good.
We're in a really good relationship.
Really?
But we stay disconnected from the body of Christ.
I'm not saying if you only come once a month, you're out sinning somewhere.
But there's something about being connected.
Don't forsake the gathering of the saints.
As some are in the habit of doing.
See, there's protection when we gather together.
I think I may need to move on from that.
I pray that what we've been experiencing over the past several years sharpens us.
And it helps us to have godly discernment to rightly distinguish truth from lies.
It's only going to get worse as time goes on.
Colossians 2, 5-7, we'll try to wrap it up.
Look at your neighbor and say he's wrapping it up.
For though I am absent in the body, yet I am with you in spirit. rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
Therefore, as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith just as you were taught, abounding in Thanksgiving.
Remember when we started this series?
Thanksgiving, he he used that over and over again.
Be thankful.
Have a heart of thanksgiving.
Paul's confidence here in the Colossian believers present standing.
Through prayer The core of Paul's conflict mentioned in Colossians, in the first verse we read, he genuinely felt he was among the Colossian Christians in spirit, even though he was absent in the flesh.
If you've traveled the world in any links on missions trips, I think you know exactly what Paul's talking about.
There are times when I'm praying for friends. in West Africa and pastors and people that we've met.
There are times when I begin to pray that their faces just come to my mind's eye like they're right here.
And I I feel feel like I'm right there with them and I'm praying and interceding for them.
I remember there's been times when I've been praying for friends in India and if you've certain places of the world they have they have their own smells, right?
There are just smells.
And I'm telling you, there are times when I've been praying for India that there is this smell that I smell and I feel like I'm back. in in Delhi, India, right with the people.
There's something you can't, some of you have made trips to Cuba many times.
How many here have gone to Cuba on missions trips?
Maybe they're in, there you go.
Some of you have been on multiple trips.
You can't go to Cuba and work alongside those people, love on them, serve with them.
Come home and go back and do it again.
And be here.
And when you pray for them, there's no way you can't feel at times like you're with them.
Because you have been knitted together in love.
They are your brothers and sisters in Christ, and they are more real a brother than sister than sometimes your own family is to you because of the God connection.
Are y'all with me?
Paul's Paul's talking about that.
He's talking about that type of reality.
Paul's sense of being spiritually present with his absent friends could be extraordinarily strong.
And very vivid.
And perhaps the most remarkable example was found in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, verses 3 through 5, where Paul speaks of himself as being present in spirit at a church meeting in Corinth, and he's in Ephesus.
Yeah, he's sensing in Experiencing like he's right there with the people.
Oh, that we might be vessels that the Holy Spirit can pray through for our brothers and sisters around the globe and right here in our own community and in this nation who are living out their faith in great distress.
He goes on to say, rejoicing to see your good order.
This is really good.
Continuing with the thought from the previous verse, Paul did not see the Colossian church that was given over to heresy.
Now I know I kind of go to this extreme sometimes.
America it's it's about over.
The church in America is just whack.
You know, you look around, you see some things, you're like, dear Lord, help us.
But the church is alive in America.
Six of us believe that.
Six of us believe that.
See, there were they were under serious danger in Colossae, but they were still in listen good order and displayed the steadfastness of their faith.
The words order and steadfastness are both military words.
Paul sees the situation of the Colossians as being like that of an army under attack.
And he affirms, listen carefully, he affirms that.
Their lines were unbroken.
Their discipline was intact.
And their faith in Christ was unshaken.
I was preparing for this, and you won't know who this guy is, but almost send it out I call some of the frontline singers my co my uh Church of God ladies because they all came from Church of God and they know some of these songs, but there's a guy years ago called Vince Ebo that had a song called I Will Not Be Shaken.
And I had that, I was out in my truck today and I played that song over and over again.
It's kind of funky, but it's this it's this warring type song of I will not be shaken.
The enemy cannot shake my faith.
I am going to be steadfast and firm in the knowledge and understanding of who God is and who I am in Him.
Hello, somebody.
See This is the this I believe is the American church, and and I know we're under attack from within, and I know there's a real attack on our families There's a real attack on our marriages and the church itself, but I'm here to tell you tonight that the fight is real and there is real serious danger.
But hear me out.
The church has lost some battles and is in the middle of a valiant fight.
But the church, let me say the local assembly called Oxford Assembly of God, the church is still in good order.
Hello, somebody.
Our faith Is steadfast.
Our lines are unbroken.
Our discipline is intact, and our faith in Christ is unshakable.
Church, we win.
We are Pl we are operating from a place of victory, not defeat.
Not defeat.
We are operating from a place of victory.
We may lose a battle here and there, but we win the war.
Look at your neighbors and say, we win the war.
The church is advancing.
Even though there is trouble and danger all around, keep the faith.
Remain steadfast.
Stay connected to Jesus and to his church.
Stand your ground and hold the line for Jesus' sake.
He says, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.
This is a wonderful rule for Christian living.
We cannot perfect in the flesh what began in the spirit.
Therefore, just as you receive Jesus, walk in him the same way.
The simple truths of the Christian life provide continual, reliable spiritual fuel for growth.
We always have to be reminded of the things we've been taught.
And Paul is speaking specifically of the doctrines regarding to the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So walk in him Look at your name and say, walk in him.
Rooted and built up.
Paul used this curious combination of metaphors.
As Christians, we walk.
But we are also rooted and we're also built up.
The message from Paul is clear.
Be established.
And keep growing.
I have to say it again.
Be established and keep growing.
See, if you walk with them daily, you're going to be established and you will grow.
Walk with him daily.
Don't treat your relationship with Christ as a once event in a week.
It's all in, it's all every day, every second, every moment of our life, we are walking and spending with him.
Roots are extremely important for being built up and and growing.
I I don't know what tree I I kill more plants than I can keep alive in my yard.
It's just been I I don't I don't have a green thumb, that's for sure But I was watching something the other day about a certain tree that we see what's above ground and how tall and how big the tree is.
And this particular tree, the roots are just as deep as that tree is tall.
The Lord wants our roots to go deep.
So that we can grow and be built up, and the storms of life come, and we are rooted False teachings come, we don't fall for it.
We know the truth.
We stand strong even when everybody else has turned and gone the other way.
We stand firm in the faith.
Because we have deep roots and we have been built up and the storms of life cannot take us out.
Psalm 92, I love this.
Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.
I'm going to say it again.
Those that be planted. in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.
I love this verse 14.
They shall still bring forth fruit in an old age.
I believe God saved some of his best stuff for our latter years.
I do.
We may not be physically able to do the things we did when we were younger, but God He saved some of his best stuff for us to be a part of in our latter years if we would just simply remain rooted and grounded in him and built up in the faith. and know him on an intimate basis.
And it says this, they shall still bring forth fruit in an old age, and hallelujah, they shall be fat and flourishing.
Fat if I'm not I know there's some hidden gems in there that I won't dive into at this point.
I want the worship team to come.
Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.
Paul speaks of us being established in the faith.
He wants us to not be shaken, church.
No matter what trial comes your way, in just a moment, the prayer team is they're gonna come And I'm serious tonight.
I just, it's almost like the waters are stirring.
Man, don't don't stay away when it's when it's your moment.
You have a need, you need somebody to pray with you, you have something going on that you just need God's intervention, whatever it is, it doesn't matter what it is, but you desire, you have faith for God to do something about it Come to these prayer team members and let them pray with you and believe God to act and to move even this night.
No matter what trial comes your way, our faith is to remain strong.
No matter what happens in life that you can't explain.
Through God's word and relationship with Him, your faith remains established in Christ, and we will not falter.
Would you stand with me tonight?
Let me pray.
Father, I thank you for your word.
I thank you that your Your word is alive and well.
Lord, I thank you for the encouragement that your word brings.
I thank you, Lord God, in this room, there's a real love for you and a love for one another.
There's a spirit of encouragement that is truly a part of this house to spur one another on in our faith to live boldly for you.
God, I thank you for that.
Lord, I pray now for every Need that's in this room as we lay hands, as we pray in faith, God, we are expecting you to do what only you can do.
Doubt has to go, sickness go in Jesus' name.
Mountain.
Be moved in Jesus' name.
Whatever seems to be impossible, God, I know that you are the God who turns that around because all things are possible for those who would believe.
We thank you for it.
Before we Come to the altar.
Would you just lift your hands?
Close your eyes and say, thank you, Lord, for your word.
Thank you, Lord, for what you're doing in my life right now.
Thank you that your word is powerful.
Thank you that you still hear.
Thank you that you are working.
We give you praise in the mighty name of Jesus.
The worship team is going to begin to sing as they do even now.
If you need prayer, would you step out?
Allow us the privilege to pray with you.
Believe God for a miracle in your earth. live come now.
