Colossians Lesson 7 Week 2

Alright, we're just getting through the end of, I believe, question 2. And this is, again, lesson 7, Colossians. We're in chapter 1, and we're going over verses 24 through 27. Again, Colossians chapter 1, verses 24 through 27. This is lesson 7, question 2. And we've gone through why were Paul suffering for the sake of the church. Now, we determined that it wasn't just for fun, it wasn't just for the enjoyment of the church at Colossae, that they were just enjoying his sufferings.

And we went over, also, does this mean that any suffering or affliction are just those when we're representing Christ? And what was the answer on that? When you talk about the sufferings, is that for us too? And then does that only mean when we're representing Christ, or is that in all suffering? Do we have to go through this again?

Oh, thank you, thank you. I needed to hear just a little bit, so maybe they'd catch it on the tape, so you guys actually were listening. Yeah, it's all, and so it isn't just, a lot of times it's, you know, I think it's just persecution when you're representing Christ, and all those other afflictions are, what, just God being mean? I don't know how you interpret that, okay, if I'm representing Christ, but these other things that are happening to me, what, God's just looking the other way or getting mean? I don't know how you interpret.

He's in control of all things. So, does he know about our afflictions and will he use them for his purposes? Yes. So, does that give you comfort knowing that he knows about our afflictions? We just went through a whole list of prayers, prayer requests. Does he know about those? Absolutely. He still wants us to come before him with prayer requests. He still wants that intimacy, that communication, that relationship. But he already knows about it. He's in control of all that.

So we derive peace through that. That's where a lot of times I think when we pray, it's praying the circumstances. It's not always to remove them from the circumstances because he may want you right in that circumstance. So a lot of times when we pray or I pray, it's peace in those circumstances. because he has you right there for a reason. You may not know, but he's got you there for a purpose or reason, either for you or for the people around you. So, what is the result or purpose of the sufferings or afflictions? I gave some of the answer away. So when you have afflictions, what is the purpose of it?

Our growth. Good. Any others? Because we're going over why were Paul suffering for the sake of the church. So that's a little bit of a giveaway. What else? Anything else? Yeah. It teaches us how much we need him. Dependency. Yeah. And I would say that that's for the church because ultimately we I guess edify one another as we share these things together. Yeah, we'll get to a verse that leads to that. Any others? Yeah, we are able to comfort other people.

Bingo! That's the one I was really looking for. Let's see here. I moved my question. Just moved here. Opportunities also to share who and what Christ is to us. sometimes before we even try to do so ourselves, that the opportunities just come up. One of the rehab places that I was, a gentleman stopped me in the hall and wanted to know why I studied the word, the Bible, and what made me different from somebody else. I didn't even know this fella. I'd seen him. It was across the hall from me. But while talking to him, without my realizing it, one of the nurses was standing behind me in the nurse's station and listened to everything. Later, as she came in my room, she said she wanted to know more about that. And she says, if I if I started reading the Bible, where should I start? I go back to that verse that I really pounded on, in him all things hold together.

He's in control of all these things. So he uses all of this, all of this. We'll get to it, but that slide that I had on the PowerPoint and how you go through that. He uses it all. You may not understand it. You may go through a challenging medical or a personal or something like that. But he's using it for his purposes. For both you and for everybody around or somebody around. You don't know.

But if you rest, and that's where you get the rest, the peace, the joy and all those things, you rest and he's in control of it and he's using it. That's exciting to me, in anything. So, you know, one of the things, if we look at the end of verse, we read 2 Corinthians 1, 3-7 last week, but really in verses 4 and 5, I think it gives kind of what you were saying, Gail, I think the end of verse 4 and 5 in 2 Corinthians 1, the reasons why, so that we'll be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ."

And I think, how many times have you gone through something and then later you run into somebody else who has gone through that same thing? And you can go, wow, you know. I know where you're at. I know what you're going through. And you know, God comforted me through that. I made it through and God just brought me through it.

How you're used for somebody else when they're in an affliction or suffering may not be the exact same thing, but you can identify in the sufferings to give comfort to somebody else. So I think that's when Paul says the suffering for the sake of the church, That's what he's saying. So he may comfort, may strengthen, may edify them through his sufferings.

Okay? Jack? Christ is in us right now. And when we suffer, he suffers likewise. And the day will come when he returns again and we all are raptured out of this place and the suffering for him and for us is all gone. Interesting. I wonder about that. Him suffering in us. I hadn't thought about that one. You got a thought on that, Mike? That's the first thing that jumped into my mind. I kind of don't. Something's not rubbing right on me on that one, but I have to think about that one.

It talks about the sufferings of Christ. And He's in us. And if He's in us, He is your life. If you're going through suffering, so is He. And that's part of His I'll have to think about that one. You know, whether the sufferings in the flesh or the sufferings in...

Well, spiritually even. Yeah. Let me think about that one. He's thinking about that too. Yeah. Just right off there, it doesn't feel good that he's suffering in me. Because he's the strength and the power and he's in control of all things. I know, but he's maturing us. Yeah, us. But whether he suffers in that, I have to think about. Well, he's paid for all of our sins. I know, which is done. Past, present and future. Done, gone. And that's why I say I don't know how much suffering he has now. He's paid for all that. So, I'll think about that one. Well, he's forever in pain then, because there's so many sick people.

Well, you know, and again, I have to think about that. The two natures that we have in us, the new creation and then the old, the flesh, and separating those two out, and with him actually, and the difference between his life in us versus him suffering. I'll have to give that one some thought.

I'll get back with you on that one. I think a lot of what your answer to the next question is going to do with that. Somewhat. But I think he's got a little different twist to it. It's whether Christ is suffering. I've got to think about it. I've got to ponder that one. Well, I don't know if this applies, but Paul, then Saul, was persecuting believers. And when he was on the road to Damascus, Christ called Saul, why are you persecuting me? No, that's a good point. That's good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good point. So maybe that is the answer. So, yeah, good answer. Other thoughts? Alright, we'll get into the next one.

What does Paul mean when he speaks of filling up that which is lacking in Christ's afflictions? And that's from Colossians 1, verse 24. I'll read it. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of his body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's affliction. Does this mean that what Christ accomplished on the cross was not enough? Good! You're actually resounding, though, on that one. So, Paul is very clear, actually, in all of his epistles, that the finished work on the cross was enough. We can look at Philippians 3, 7 through 11. I picked out just a couple of them.

But whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in what the view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish. so that I may gain Christ and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ Jesus, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death in order that I may attain the resurrection from the dead." Again, Count it all lost for what?

The knowledge of Christ. Everything else is lost except for Christ on the cross. So, what does it mean in filling up what is lacking in Christ's affliction? If the cross was enough, what is Paul saying here? Quite honestly, it took me a long time to really figure this out, to get to an answer. It kind of, it was a lot, you know, I was thinking, what does that mean? Because I knew it wasn't about Christ being on the cross was enough. I mean, that Paul's very explicit, went through several. But what does he mean by filling up what is lacking in Christ's affliction? That was kind of hard. It took a long time. Anybody?

Well, I think there are faiths who say that you do need to fill up what is lacking in Christ's affliction. and I looked up that word afflictions in Strong's and also in other things and that word the word is never used in the New Testament of the atoning sufferings of Christ I looked up all the verses never used in that respect so it's kind of confusing when you see it says Christ's afflictions but I think what Jack was saying because of union of believers with Christ Paul's sufferings for the sake of his church can be called Christ's afflictions as well? Yeah, but the thing that I'm feeling is lacking in Christ's affliction. Well, what I said was Paul had already stressed the sufferings of Christ for man's salvation. His or Paul's sufferings were for the church, not for the lost man.

He spoke of his sufferings in behalf of saved men. and then I picked up somewhere else and they said Paul was a realist and he saw that the courageous action needed to protect the church from error and to nurture its members and so forth that there were going to continue to be things in the church. Okay, I'm still looking for what it means lacking. That one bothered me. That's the word that bothered me. It was not lacking for man's salvation. Okay, I see what you're saying.

He needed to warn the church that there were going to be ongoing things for them. I think you're getting to where I got to. According to Chet McCauley in his little paper there, the sufferings of the believer are seen as a continuation of this world's quarrel with Jesus Christ. Persecution of the Lord's people is always viewed as persecution of Him.

Yeah, and I'm still though, I saw Chet's answer and I was still lacking. Well, it's that Paul is here. I mean, he was on earth, so he was able to continue what Jesus had asked him to do on the road to Damascus. I mean, he was in the flesh, Christ is spirit. And so, I don't know, this is very confusing. Well, Wanda, I started off, it was very confusing to me. So, nobody's really touching on that lacking. What does that mean when it says lacking? Because that was the word that bothered me the most.

I think in terms of Romans 8, we're predestined to be conformed to the image of him. So the conformity process is what's the peace that's continuing on from the cross. That's what I came to. After all this, the lacking was, Christ did everything on the cross for us. So we're placed into Him, we have all that. But what does it tell us? That we're being conformed to the image. How are we being conformed? Through just blessings? Sufferings. Sufferings, too. So the lacking part... Uh-oh. Yes, Mike?

I don't think that the suffering does anything to conform. I think the conformity process is done by beholding the glory of the Lord. The suffering is in the flesh, according to this verse. so that you and I won't depend on the flesh for any or everything in terms of living our life. As that dependence wanes and the beholding of the Lord Jesus ensues, that's how the conformity process is accomplished. The filling up in his flesh of the sufferings of Christ, I think, have to do a lot with what Macaulay said. Because of the unity between the body of Christ and Christ himself, his body who is still on the earth will be persecuted just like he was when he was here.

And so I don't know if it would be proper to say because we are representing him here, we can expect to have the same treatment that he had, which is part of the rejection. We live in a world that rejected him. And because we belong to him, we come under that heading of rejected ones.

Yeah, and still the lacking, you know, what's lacking? The lacking is the fact that you get to partake of the rejection or the persecution that the world has against Christ. Okay. Did you have something, Roy? Could we express it maybe that it's within time, it hasn't occurred yet. that he knows it will, but it hasn't yet occurred, so in that sense, it's lacking or has to occur. History is not complete. The world goes on. And he knows that he's going to be persecuted and so on and so on. And that has just not occurred yet, each generation.

See, mine is for the individuals with lacking, and I went back to what Alan was saying, that it's conforming. I'll give you some verses that I think says that, that it is for our conforming. I think that's the lacking in Christ's affliction. Where are the afflictions?

What Macaulay says is, we aren't going to have candy and nuts and sweet time here. We're going to have suffering. So, you know, I think we shouldn't expect anything different. We'll get into that as far as if Christ suffered, should we suffer? Yes, absolutely. The world rejected him. He's going to reject us because we're in him.

Right. So let me get. OK, before I get to my verses. When Verne taught Ephesians and Colossians. Oh, Verne. This is what he said. Vern says the measure of afflictions will not be full until the church is home with the Lord. So each believer who is afflicted is filling it up until that day comes. Yes, I agree with that. And that's the conforming process. I agree totally with that. I agree with Vern.

One more thing. The Lord Jesus Christ has overcome It isn't that he's suffering now and doesn't have an answer or remedy. He was resurrected and so we can look to him as to how to function within the persecution because he's past it now. Does that make sense? Yeah, that's true. But I think the afflictions are for our conforming.

Let me read Philippians 3.10. that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death." Okay, we're being conformed by those afflictions. "...in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." And then Romans 8, 28 and 29.

And we know that God causes all things to work together. So the all things, afflictions, all those different things, afflictions, blessings, everything to work together. For good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.

I think the all things is that conforming process. And it is. The afflictions, I think all those are, what we talked about earlier, dependency. Those are the things that draw us to Him, to be drawn to Him in that intimate relationship. The conforming.

And so I think that what's lacking in here is the lacking of Christ. What Christ suffered, now we are going to suffer those, or have suffering, which somebody said, that God, the world rejected Him, they're going to reject us. We're going to have suffering. And we're going to be filled up or conformed through those sufferings. And that's where I said maybe the lacking is, is that Christ finished on the cross, but we are also going to have suffering to conform us. So the lacking is that we are going to be filled up with sufferings that will conform us. That's the best I could come up with what was lacking. The passage in the first chapter of Corinthians really parallels what you're saying here.

Because after Paul lists the things that he went through, he says God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. The baith things of the world, the things which are despised, has God chosen, yea, the things which are not, to bring to nothing things that are.

That no flesh should glory in his presence, but of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God God does the work here. He has made unto us wisdom. He's our wisdom. He is the wise, all wisdom. And righteousness, sanctification, we've been talking about being set apart unto the Lord and the process of informing us. But He's also wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, all of those things. God is making Him those things to us.

Yeah, in the conforming process, I think. In the Philippians verse that you quoted, the conformity in that verse has only to do with the death. Right. In order to attain the process, it's in part of that process. And that's what, I know, it's in the death, but the second part is to the resurrection. Same thing in this verse, because it talks about suffering in the flesh. The issue is, Conformed into the death of the flesh means to be separated or put it out of business. That's a two-sided sword. The conformity to the image of Christ is not in the death part, it's in the life part. Right. But that's the second part of that Philippians. It's a process. The first part is conforming into death.

And that's what the suffering is about. That's what the suffering is about, right. And that was the best I could come up with, the lacking. Because when you do that, it definitely is not about Christ on the cross didn't accomplish enough. We all agree with that. But it's now the afflictions are Christ's afflictions. Those are the sufferings that will conform us in His death and ultimately to His resurrection, conform us in that process.

So that's the best I could come up with, with the lacking. It was the lacking part that I just struggled with. What's lacking? But it was in that we're going to be filled up with the sufferings to conform us to His death and ultimately in His resurrection. Could I add to that? No. Oh, yes.

What is lacking here is us acknowledging Him for who He is. And I think that's the greatest suffering. I don't know I can put it in words what Christ feels about this, but He wants us to acknowledge who He is and acknowledge His glory. and participate in that glory and his rewards. Yeah, in John 17, you know, sharing his glory and all that. I think that's a fellowship. He wants us to be in common with him in that thinking.

Yeah, I think the thing, I don't want to get lost in that, is we can't be separated from his love. He's not going to go, Roy, he really, well, you know, it sounds like he's suffering, or he's disappointed in you, or something like that. He's patient. Right. He is always pouring on grace. Full on, 100% of the time, we can't be separated from his love.

But what do we mean by suffering? Is he being hurt? I mean, you touched on it just then. Does it hurt him when we suffer? Well, I think, you know, that's the interesting part is what Joanne brought up, you know. Yeah, he suffers in, when people are persecuting his body, he suffers. Does it hurt him when we don't acknowledge his glory? You know, I think that's more unquenching the Holy Spirit, I think, more. Which, at least I would go with there, that you quench the Holy Spirit.

That you are not responding. And again, it's just full on with Him. We're the ones who turn away, or we do. He is full on, full after us, 100% of the time. So, it's not like, oh, it's more, come back! You're losing fellowship with me. I guess I'm saying it's a bigger issue than suffering. Yeah, I think, well, it's all things, I think, and that's where we keep going back, all things. You know, in all things. So, all right.

Now that thoroughly confused you. Actually, that was a tough one. I wrestled with that for quite a while. Question four. What can we conclude in our own lives If the world loves us and we feel comfortable there. And the scripture to read was John 15, 18-21. I'll read that. John 15, verses 18-21.

If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you. A slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for my name's sake, because they do not know the one who sent me."

So, question, what can we conclude in our own lives that the world loves us and we feel comfortable there? We're too much of the world and the world knows it. Good answer. Anything else? Any other thoughts? I didn't hear that. What did you say? We're too much of the world and the world knows it. Okay, thank you. Yeah. Any other thoughts? I thought it was pretty straightforward.

If you're comfortable in the world and the world loves us, we're probably not being an ambassador for Christ. If we are, the world will reject us as it did with Christ. So, if you're real cozy and everything, you know, falling into the world and you just love everything about this earth, then you're probably accepted really well. Doesn't that mean that we're out of fellowship? Out of fellowship with the world? No, with Him, Lord.

Yes. Oh yeah, if we're in the world, then yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yes. But that means we're not living in our position. Yes. Not living where we're seated. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, if we are, you know, we're a light. You know, when you identify another believer in a place, just different, you know, you know something. Well, guess what?

The world doesn't like light. You know, they like darkness. I've found that more and more, that if you expose this, it's like rats being exposed. You know, they don't like it. When you're a light and expose them, it doesn't go over well. You know, quite frankly, I think we're seeing a lot of that right now. If you follow the news or anything goes on or anything in the publications, it seems like the homosexual agenda is rampant right now. And by exposing those things, the world gets very, very rejecting of you. You know, they're just saying there's two guys, there's Christian brothers, who just got their TV show cancelled on HGTV because they said, no, marriage is a man and a woman.

And they got kicked off. So, when light exposes the darkness, this world isn't going to go, yay! It's going to reject you. So when you stand up or you are reflecting or being an ambassador for Christ, this world will reject you. It should. It rejected Him, it's going to reject you. Scripture says that. So I think it was pretty straightforward. If we're just cozy and everything, and you think the world is just great and wonderful, think about it.

You're in a dark world. Lots of things going on. And it's just, if you're a light, light exposing darkness, there will be pushback rejection. As I say when I go on Facebook, and I'm generally a real tender and sweet people, you know, friends and stuff, sometimes I'll post something I really believe in, and boy, it's just like, how can you say that you're the biggest jerk in You know what I mean? It's just like, all these people.

And I kind of put my tail to my legs and walk out. But the thing is, you're right. You just say the least old thing about sinful practices and most of those people aren't in tune with what God believes. No, if you address any of the, you know, it just seems, I keep thinking the Lord's coming back soon. It's like a wheel that's getting more out of round. Things just keep getting worse and worse and worse. I keep thinking, Lord, you've got to be coming back.

Like I said, with the homosexual agenda right now, it just seems to be rampant. If you stand up, you are shot immediately. Shot, but persecuted. And you say anything that goes against the world, you're immediately challenged. Which, if we follow this, we should. We should be a light. We shouldn't just say, okay, I'll look down. We should be a light in a dark world.

And through those afflictions, that also brings us to dependency on him. A lot of different things that he can use through that. The other question I had was, does this mean we're to be miserable around here and life has no joy or peace? Well, we're talking about afflictions. Stand in front of that firing squad. Come on! No, but if you believe, then you have joy and peace within you. Okay, if you believe. Others?

Maybe I shouldn't bring this up. No, Rhonda, bring it up. What bothers me is in abortion, if it's incest and, you know, now they have all of these things on people. If it's incest or rape, still they say no, that you should not be able to abort. And that, you know, that bothers me. I mean, I can't figure out how, if it's incest and it's a young girl and you're going to make her go through all that Should I step on this landmine or not? Well, we're going to see if you comply with question four. My personal is, and this is strictly mine, may not comfort you, is that two things. One, did God know about that and allow it? Did he? Yes. The devil also has. Who's in control of all things? Well, God is. So, he allowed it. Okay? I don't understand that. But he uses all things for his purposes. So, I rest in the fact I don't understand it. I fully say I don't understand it.

Now, if there's a child conceived, we're going to punish that child because we don't like the act. It's a life. I see. Okay. And I say no. You know, it shouldn't be. Because that's a life that we're taking that is, you know, had nothing to do with it. Okay, that makes me feel better. Okay. That was an easy landmine.

Yeah, I mean, I think if you do all things, you know, that he allowed it. You know, it's like when, I think I've touched on this before, you know, when people say, you know, and I get this down at the camp when, you know, I'm on the board down there and we, you know, the devils, you know, keep the devil away and all that. Who allows the devil And you're a special day if it's the devil himself. He's not omnipresent, he's got to be there.

So who allowed that? God did. He only allows Satan to work as his agent. So when you're being challenged by the devil, if that's the case, who allowed it? God did. God's using it for his purposes. Can he be separated from his love? No. Is he using all things? Yes. To what? Conform you to his image, to draw you to him, to find your dependency, all these different things. Well then, I think... I admit I should have left that landmine alone. If the government or whatever is going to take this over and they're going to say that's the law, then... We, as the people in this country, need to step up and take care.

I mean, some innocent child that then the government shouldn't say, well, you are just going to have to have this baby. But Tuff, we're not going to help you. I think that the government should step in. We should help. I wouldn't say that. I would say we step in. as the body of Christ. I don't want the government touching it. If we're going to do anything, the body of Christ should take care of that. That's who should do it. Not the world, not the government. They don't care. So, that's to me.

There should be a law if there should be a law. No, I don't want any more laws. Every time we do law, we get into political things, which is just not good. God's in charge, that's very hard for me. Well, no. But see, remember that? And that's what I was getting at with, you know, remember all that PowerPoint I went through that?

When he's in control, it gets down to where you get the peace, joy, and rest because you know he's in control. So whatever happens, you know you're in control, or he's in control. We're in control. He's in control, and he loved us first. We can't be separated from his love. He's in control, so whatever's happening to you, he's doing it for a purpose. Maybe for you, or as I say, when you point your finger, three of them are pointing back at you. He may be working on you three times as much as the person you think he's working on.

So all those things, but all those you get, you end up with a peace, joy and rest. And that's the, you know, if my question was, does this mean we're supposed to be miserable here and life has no joy? Remember all the, remember all those verses that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full so that they may have my joy made full in themselves. Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I'll give you rest. You know, now may the Lord of peace himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Peace, Christ speaking, peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. A lot of things, you know, through these afflictions, The ultimate thing is the battle of what? What's our battle?

Faith. Believe this. Believe what he said and these things will come. So if the Broncos win the Super Bowl, am I supposed to function that day just like any other day? You can. It's not a sin. Yes. In those verses I'll talk about the Lord's joy and joy in Him. I wouldn't go so far to say that the Lord is overjoyed when the Broncos win a game. I don't think that He is, but we can enjoy a game.

This is going to quickly, rapidly deteriorate to my scuba diving and watching all the things that I think God created. I can see where we're going with this. That really irritates me. My point is simple, and that's this. As we grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus, the things in the world that we would joy in before would be less important to us. I agree totally. Because we wouldn't want anything of the world to interfere with the joy we were experiencing in the Lord. It goes back to when we teach grace. If it masters you, if it masters you. If you can't let it go, it will master you.

If the Broncos lose and your whole day is gone, or your whole week, or month, or whatever. I must say it was a little tough when the Avs lost. I must say that was a little tough to go through. I quickly went through that actually. This is just to the world. And I go through in politics, Monique, politics is like a football game. You cheer and you get excited, but it means nothing. Avalanche, Broncos, whatever, it means nothing in the end.

He's given it to us and we can enjoy it, but if it masters you, if your whole life is tied up in it, and you are just distraught for weeks, months, because the Avalanche and Broncos lose, you have something that masters you. Yeah. We seem to covet what we put around us most often, and when we're coveting those things instead of Christ in us, then it becomes an issue. Yeah, I think, again, it goes back to the mastering. You know, if you just can't, you have to go see the Broncos instead of this. Or, I mean, you have to do it, and they're just, you know, that masters you. And that's the thing. We can enjoy Bronco's game. It's nothing sinful about it. There's nothing about it. You can enjoy it. He's allowed that to happen. But if you are so mastered by it that you see nothing but orange and blue, you've got issues that are controlling you, that are of the world and you're becoming comfortable, conformable to the world rather than to Christ.

OK, I'm going to say one that there is. It isn't the full 100 percent answer, but there's places like Shannon's Hope that will take girls that have a baby and they help them from the minute they go there. I know that. Yeah. And I think the baby and then. There's a lot more to go after, but I think the church does... Yeah, I think that's the responsibility of the body.

A couple other ones that I had, I went through a bunch of this. If we also look at 1 John 5, verse 4. Whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world. And what is that? You know what the end of that verse is? Our faith. Hey, we've come back to that again.

1 Timothy 6.12, fight the good fight of faith. That's our responsibility. Faith. Believe this. Believe what He's told us. Believe what the Scripture says. That's what the Holy Spirit's whole job is, to convict and convince us of what is true in Scripture. And that's the battle. That's the fight of faith. And it's not about us duking it out with the devil. Our fight is the fight of faith. That's it.

Believe what he has told us. And then you have all the joy, peace, rest, all these different things. He's told us that. And parallel to that is, you've mentioned this but I'll just repeat it, that we tell the truth in love. When we talk about homosexuality or abortion or political things, God loves people and we love people. We hate sin, but we love the people. Alright, that's the second one. We better close. We'll start with question five next week and we'll get through the next ones. I think we'll go a little bit quicker. So we'll start a question. five next week. All right, let's go before the Father.

Heavenly Father, we thank you again just for this time. We again just enjoy any time we can gather as a body of your believers and just to study your word and to just spend time with you. And we just thank you for these great truths that are in this book of Colossians. We thank you again just for the rest and comfort, peace, joy, all the things we derive from understanding your word and just understanding your great love for us. And it happens in all things, all things, in suffering and in blessings, all the different things. You're in control. We rest in that fact and realize that we are operating in a system of grace. the unmerited favor and we just we rest in that and Father we just give you thanks again for this time. We pray as Vern gives us the message Again that you'll just prepare hearts to receive it and father. We just thank you for this time in Jesus name. We pray amen