Colossians Lesson 11

Good morning. As Mike said, my name is Brian. For those of you who know me, there are two other elective classes, so feel free. For those of you who do not know me, I grew up Baptist, and whenever we had a guest speaker, there was always a love offering. Typically the love offering was done afterwards, so usually you could gauge how the guy did. But now we're going to take it before. So for those of you who do not know me, we used to attend Holly Hills several years ago. I got my teaching start with the great Mike Doyle. That explains a lot. Although his taste in pants has not transferred to me. Eventually, I'll get to the red plaid and green and whatever. OK, so thank you, Courtney. I haven't converted over either, so it takes time.

OK, so does everybody have questions for this is lesson 11? Could I have someone read Colossians 2, 8-10 for me? See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and ancient deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in him all the fullness of deity dwells in Babylon, and you have been made complete. and he is the head overall of rule and authority.

Okay. Thank you. Alright, so question one. Is it important for believers to be alert to potential doctrinal dangers that may filter into our thinking? The answer I heard was absolutely. Could you be more definitive than that? See to it. See to it, right. So of course the obvious answer is yes, right, of course. But why would he even have to bring up these potential dangers? In verse 8 he's talking about, see to it, there's your warning, that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception. Why would he even have to bring that up?

We heard in chapter 1, the first several verses there, he's talking about they have spirit-filled love. Paul, who had never seen them face to face, had heard of their faith. He told him in chapter 2 verse Five, that he's constantly rejoicing to see their good discipline and stability of their faith in Christ. And as we talked about the last couple of weeks, there's two words for good discipline and stability.

One is walking in lockstep, the other is having a hooked arm, like in the Roman army, they would lock arms and just march forward and literally just knock down whatever was in their path. So he's talking about them spiritually, They're this way, right?

So if they're this way, why would you even have to warn them about any dangers of philosophy of empty deception? Because that's what was going on in the church. There were false teachers. They were coming in. It sounds like he was praising them, right? They're doing well. Yeah. What about you guys? What about Holly Hills? Do you guys need to be warned? Right? Are you doing well? Lockstep? Give me some examples of what could be deceptions today. Well, first of all, let me say this. So, in verse 8, it says, see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception.

The word for captive literally means to kidnap. So, anyone ever been kidnapped in here? Anyone know anybody who's ever been kidnapped? Anybody ever heard of anybody ever being kidnapped on the news? Did they ever go willingly? Did cults kidnap you? Do they? Yeah, they do.

The point is that It's possible, if you're not going on your own toward philosophy and empty deception, it's very possible that even though we're in good discipline and lockstep, stability in the faith, that we can be taken captive. We can be kidnapped without our consent. So Paul's warning here is one that we need to take note of, especially here at Holly Hills and in today's church.

Is that because of the two natures? Is that because of the two natures? Yeah, that your need to be warned is because the nature is always trying to... Break the world in? Yeah, absolutely. Well, it's like Mike was saying the last couple of weeks, the problem in the Church of Colossae was that it wasn't just Christ alone. They thought they needed to add something else to it.

If we're walking in the Spirit, the new man, according to Colossians 3.10, is being renewed, the inner man is being renewed. The inner man is not going to be taken captive. It's only going toward one goal. So that's a great point. Who's being taken captive? Is it the new man? No, it's the old man. Why? I'm sorry? He's still in this? Still in the game? Because he listens?

It's also easily deceived. Easily deceived? Why is he easily deceived? Because he's propensity to sin. That's all he can do. It's in darkness. But what about the good Christian? That's the one that's the most vulnerable, isn't it? We always go for the good thing. They don't think so. Do you think they think so? Always listening to Christian music? Always going to church, right? Spending 10 minutes a day in the Word, right? I grew up Baptist, 10 minutes a day, right? Where's my Baptist ladies? Mike Scott is Catholic people, I have my Baptist ladies.

I'm afraid to keep running the same route and become complacent. And some things you just know is there and you don't pay attention to it. I think the Bible is the same way that you come to a place and you don't realize the slow dangers that are slowly creeping in over time. It's a great point. Take it for granted. Everybody hear that? No. That's a great point.

I'll re-say it in a personal way. I'm in IT technology. not that I don't need to continue to memorize things, but initially I needed to memorize facts, you know, numbers about networking and how computers work and all this stuff. So what I would do is I had a certain chart and I would write it on my whiteboard at work, right? So I knew I had to memorize this and I would never forget it because it was always on my board, right? Well, his example was that he drives a truck, a freight truck, right? You can go to the same route every day.

You get complacent. You start maybe missing some things. You're not paying as much attention to it. And so maybe some dangers or whatever can start creeping in. Well, the danger I found was that I had my chart written up, but then somebody told me, well, if you always do the same thing all the time, or you always see the same thing in the same place all the time, it becomes invisible to you. So then after a little while I started forgetting that chart. So what I did, I erased it and I moved it to the other side of the whiteboard. Just so I could remember. So maybe you would take a different route. Maybe now you're not as familiar with it. Can that happen?

Go to church, Christian music, we're lulled into being taken captive, being kidnapped. I was debating on whether I was going to use this example, but I'm going to do it anyway. Speaking of Christian music, anyone ever heard of the song, Word of God Speak? It's a very contemplative song. I'm just going to read a couple of lyrics. I love this song, by the way. I love the music. I love the very contemplative nature of it. And if you're not familiar with it, it says, here's the chorus.

Actually, let me back up. It says, I'm finding myself at a loss for words, and the funny thing is, it's okay. The last thing I need is to be heard, but to hear what you would say. Word of God speak, would you pour down like rain, washing my eyes to see your majesty, to be still and know that you're in this place, Please let me stay and rest in your holiness. Word of God speak.

That's okay, right? Do I need to read it again? Is that okay? Yes, absolutely. But I'm driving in my car, right? I have my Christian radio playing, right? Contemplative song after contemplative song about him. This comes on. All of a sudden, I hear this several times. Please let me stay and rest in your holiness. Yeah. Can I? I'd love to.

Who wouldn't want to as a believer? You don't have to ask. I don't have to ask. I don't have to beg. Right? Please let me. Why? You're there. You're already there. Right? So this is one example of a song that I personally like. I don't know what Mike's told you about me, but I'm one of the most stable guys. But the point is that even the most stable person in the faith can hear that over and over and over again, not just that song. That song on top of another song on top of another song.

And all of a sudden, instead of walking lockstep, now the arm's starting to get a little loose. Now we're starting to walk a little this way. Our fellow believer's walking that way. Yes. I think it's interesting right here because even here, if you pay attention to the hymns that we sing, we fall into that trap every now and then where we're asking God to do something. We're singing and asking God to do something when in fact he's already done it. And we think it's fine to go ahead and do that. Well, that couldn't be a better example of how you get taken captive. Why wouldn't you? Well, you would ask him to do something if you weren't aware that he's already done it. Sure.

Yeah, and going back to the good Christian, right? I mean, it sounds good, right? I mean, growing up Baptist, of course, you know, it was all about us fellow believers keeping each other in line, right? It was me being accountable to my group of buddies and them being accountable to me. Hey, are you in the Word at least 10 minutes a day? Did you listen to any rock music this week?

So, we're in this revival setting and we're singing these songs about begging God to do something that is already true of us. It sounds good. Right? Oh, that's a super spiritual guy. He really wants to seek after God. He's begging God to just let him stay and rest in his holiness. Wow, what a spiritual guy. I want to be more like him. Right? Sounds good. The good Christian. That's where it's at. He read that when David sinned, he went to God and said, please don't take your spirit from me. That's totally... That's okay. It's in the Bible, right? Yeah.

David said it. Am I comparing myself to David? I think I'm going to step up the ladder from him. Anyone else to step up the ladder from David? I think that's irrelevant to what we're discussing because that was the Old Testament when the Holy Spirit came and went and wasn't always indwelling people. And he did leave David later because of David's attitude.

That was a real possibility. Yeah, absolutely. So why are we saying it now? We shouldn't. Yes. I think giving another example is. When Jesus himself says, blessed are those who do this, that knoweth them beatitudes, we already have every spiritual blessing in Christ. Even that can confuse people. You know what I'm saying? Oh, absolutely.

I was talking to a lady a couple of months ago about what do we do with the passage right around where you're talking about, Matthew. Forgive others, right? I'm paraphrasing. Forgive others so that we can be forgiven. Right. What do we do with that? How do we make that fit? Right? Under grace. How do we make it fit? We just listen to Paul. He says, forgive because you've already been forgiven. Yeah.

Ephesians 4.32. But when Jesus was saying it, it was not the Christian era. And when Paul was saying it, it was. That's the difference. So what if you don't know? Then you have a problem. You need to be somewhere you can learn. That's the answer. The answer is 10 minutes a day.

But really, what if you don't know? What if you go to a church other than Holly Hills? God forbid. What if you don't know? What if you're reading verses out of Matthew and you're trying to apply them? What if you're trying to apply Psalm 51? God, please don't take your spirit from me. So that's the problem because there aren't many churches like this. So there are a lot of people that are blinded by misunderstanding.

We're reading the same book though. It's the same Bible. Well, somebody needs to point out to you what it means. Verse 7, it says, just as you were instructed. Aren't we dependent on the Holy Spirit to show us Christ and to show us the truth of who we are in Christ? We absolutely are dependent on the Spirit. When we hear something like that, even in a song, He will minister to us if we're trusting Him and seeking what is the truth.

And I don't know if you've experienced it, but I have. I'm singing a song and I say, wait a minute, there's something wrong with that. What's wrong with that? And I dig in the word and you can find out. Is the spirit revealing to you, is that enough? You're going through your daily life and you're singing hymns or whatever, or you hear a preacher, whatever. Is the spirit working in you enough to keep you in lockstep? I think if you're in the Word of God and seeking the Holy Spirit's leading you to show you Christ, the truth, the truth of both, one and the same, that he will reveal you those things that are in here and filter them out of your life.

Amen. He reveals, I don't know who Christ is, but He reveals how bad our sin nature is. He does more. So you added an ingredient to my question. You added the Word of God. I have a buddy who thinks you can hear things from the Spirit whether they're in the Word or not. What does Paul say in verse 7? as you have been taught, is that what you were emphasizing? As you have been instructed.

And also there's a cool phrase, with thanksgiving. It's not a matter of pleading, it's with thanksgiving. And that thanksgiving is a participle, you know what that means? A participle describes the main verb. What's the main verb in verse 7? I'm sorry, the main verb is not even in 7, it's in 6. What do you think the main verb of 6 and 7 is? Walk. So with Thanksgiving is describing the walk.

Look back in chapter 1, verse 9. I'll just go ahead and read 9 through 12. It says, For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you. and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. What's the main verb there? Hint, verse 10. Walk. I'm going to read four actions to you and tell me where we typically focus. Reading on in verse 10.

Bearing fruit in every good work, increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all power according to His glorious might, giving thanks to the Father. What do we Christians typically try to do? Be fruitful. What does fruitful mean? What does bearing fruit actually mean? Producing something. Like what? New converts? Good works?

In certain circles, bearing fruit is how many people got saved today. Are you bearing fruit? Are you witnessing and bearing fruit? increasing in the knowledge of God. I actually believe, there's two interpretations to this, and grammatically they could go either way, but I firmly believe because of, back in verse 6, we're talking about the gospel constantly bearing fruit and increasing throughout the world. Increasing could also mean spreading out. I actually believe in verse 10, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. That's a spreading out of the knowledge of God. Grammatically it could go either way. So there's our evangelism. Where do we typically try to focus? Are we spreading the gospel? Are we increasing? Are we spreading out the knowledge of God? Strengthen with all might and giving thanks to the Father. You better be thankful. What did Christ die for you on the cross? You better be thankful.

So, main verb. Walk, verse 10. Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, which also pleases Him in all respects. There's four actions that I just read. Those are all participles. Those are all results of the pleasing walk. So our goal shouldn't be bearing fruit, shouldn't be spreading out the knowledge, shouldn't be giving thanks, shouldn't be walking in our own strength. Our goal should be, and in Paul's prayer in verse 9, is that we be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. The result of that is the pleasing walk. The result of the pleasing walk are those four things. If we're walking based on the fact that we're filled with the knowledge of His will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding, which means we know it up here, right?

Wisdom means getting from this to action, and understanding is putting all of that together for circumstances, for specific circumstances. If we're walking worthy because we know this, we have no choice but to bear fruit, spread out the knowledge of God, strengthen with His might, and continuously rejoicing. I don't see any choice.

Sounds pretty cool, doesn't it? Going back to just as you were instructed, I just read about Paul's prayer for them. Which, oh, by the way, after the first eight verses of Colossians 1, it just got done telling them how they have spirit-filled love. They're pretty good Christians.

And then he says, I pray that you be filled with the knowledge of his love, so that you'll walk. So, in chapter 2, Can you walk without being instructed? I was thinking, I mean, obviously a new believer can walk with the Lord, right? A baby believer, saved today, start walking with the Lord by faith, and then the Holy Spirit is going to, through the Word, reveal the truth and take you along. But I was looking and thinking, this being kidnapped, like you said, being taken captive through philosophy and empty deception, The only way, and that's because of our flesh, right?

Our sin nature. We're always susceptible to that. But the key is to know about identification truths, right? So that kind of comes after your passage in the next couple of verses, 11, 12, 13. Because We can't stop our sin nature unless we know about our identification with Christ.

And it's kind of like, believers that don't understand that, and probably a brand new believer doesn't know that yet. And so they need to know that. Everything that comes at them from popular Christianity and from the world is just going to keep tricking them and keep tricking their flesh until they come to a place where they learn about it and then it takes a while for the Lord to make it real. But until they get that, they're going to keep getting deceived. Which is why, what's the first thing you should do after a new believer comes to Christ?

Ten minutes. Ten minutes a day? It's typically, well, not just that, but other things, right? But you're saying, tell them about the identification community point. Yeah, they have to be instructed, right? Yeah, have to be. I'm tagging on to what Josiah was saying, is that a young believer, old believer, always has some sort of need in their life. And when the need shows up, how do you go about rectifying it? dealing with it. If you're a young believer, you're going to refer to the experience that you've had in the flesh before you knew Christ. If you're an older believer who hasn't been taught, you're going to do the same thing.

And so the warning is appropriate that there is no substitute for the fullness of the knowledge of Christ. And that you come to the point, I think, where you ask yourself, is Christ enough? You know, I have X situation in my life. Is it enough to trust Christ with a solution to this? Or do I need to go and, you know, I'm educated, I'm this and that, and I'm reading, and I Googled it, you know, and found an answer. Is that enough or is Christ enough? And that's what it comes down to, I think.

Because when the need's there, then all of a sudden I'm looking for an answer. Do you remember when someplace in the Bible where it says these Christian guys came to these other folks and said, did you receive the Holy Spirit? And when you believed, they said, we haven't even heard of the Holy Spirit. So people come and share and teach and edify and help you know more, a deeper way. Yeah.

Instead of looking for it in philosophy, right? Why would he say philosophy and empty deception? He's already saying, see to it that nobody takes you captive through philosophy. Does he need to go the next mile and say empty deception? Well, isn't philosophy just like human wisdom? Trying to reason things out, and then the vein would be a person that's actually out to defraud and make money or whatever motive, but it's empty. It's totally empty. Does he have to call it empty, though? No, he won't. Why do you think he did? What do you mean, here? Yeah. Why do you think here he called it empty, etc.? ? Because all, most philosophy is empty deception. Empty deception.

Not to the Gnostics who were running around in Colossae. And it's not, the teaching's not Christ-filled. It's not from the Word specifically. Okay. Answers in the next verse. Somebody read the next verse. Which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. The next verse, not the next section. That's okay.

For in Christ all the fullness of the beauty lives in bodily form. So why is deception empty? It's void of Christ. It's void of Christ. All the fullness is in Him. Right? Massive contrast. So, in other words, why are you going after philosophy or deception that's empty You have Christ. It's fullness. And not only that, but in the next verse he says that in him you have been made complete. Literally, what it says, what it means in the Greek, in him you are fullness. Let me explain this word fullness.

Maybe it will add some color. The Gnostics who were running around Colossae had this word for, well our English word would be fullness, it's called Pleroma. If you've never heard this word before. In the Gnostic world, they had God over here, God's holy. They had matter or man over here, anything physical over here, evil. So how do you get man from an evil state to a God who's holy? What they did was they created these emanations or these beings that would be one step holier until you get to God. Oh, by the way, Jesus Christ? One step down the ladder.

This word for fullness, pleroma, in their definition was the complete line from evil to holy, this string of beings, whether they were angels, whether they were Jesus Christ, whether they were their local elder, bishop, whatever, they had this hierarchy of who you reported to, who did you pray to next, who did you listen to next. So the Play Roma was the full line, the full bridge between how you got from being evil to holy. This was Play Roma. So he says in verse 9, for in him all the fullness of deity, all the pleroma of deity dwells in bodily form.

Why would he have to say that? He was refuting the idea that that was not possible. Yeah. Is Jesus God? Yes. Did they think so? He was close. Right? He was someone to look up to, right? He's all they need. He's all they need, yeah. But in their minds, they would have connected the dots, because literally, they would have connected the dots. Right? The Pleroma was this. Right? Jesus Christ was Pleroma in bodily form, which would refute that directly to them. And then he tells us in verse 10, and in him, you are Pleroma. Right?

Going back to verse 2, I'm sorry, three, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Mike went over the last couple of weeks. In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In the Gnostic mind, the treasures of wisdom and knowledge were held from, in their hierarchy, the next one up had some, the next one up had more, right?

All the way. And Jesus Christ had a lot. You need him. You need to worship him. But he's not everything. So this would have made complete sense to them. Does it make complete sense to us? Is Jesus Christ everything? Or is he just almost there? And oh, by the way, because you're in him, you are fullness.

I had an interesting observation. We've been talking to 7th day Adventists. Oh, I can't think of it. Yeah, is it Jehovah's Witness? Anyway, they believe that Christ is less than God. Where do you think they got that from? Yeah. It's interesting, isn't it? Gnostics didn't stop in the first century. It's going on today. You know, as you're talking, I'm thinking about Catholicism has the same dance going on. They have priests and then these graduated holiness sections of the bishop and cardinal.

And the pope is supposed to be the vicar of Christ on earth. So he's got all the secrets because God communicates directly with him. So he can come out and say, well, whatever the doctrine that they're proponing today, whether it's real, biblically or not. He said it, so he's the guy with the wisdom. Which is why the news reports this is the church's stance.

So, to go back to verse 3, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Hidden, that word for hidden, was a Gnostic term. It meant secret writings, secret knowledge. Well, if you have this hierarchy, who has the secret knowledge? Well, the next one has more, right, has some, then more, then more, then more, right? So it says, at the end of verse two, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and then you go down to our verses today, and in him you are, play Roma, you are complete. What do you need? What more do you need? Right? So, What were some dangers the Colossians were susceptible to? I went a little bit further into chapter 2 to find these. And we've been talking about Gnosticism the last few minutes, so that's one of them. And the verses for those would be in chapter 2, 20-22.

It says, if you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees such as do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, which all refer to things destined to perish with use, in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? Doesn't he kind of say more or less the same thing in verse 8 about philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men? Do you see any others, any other dangers that he's warning them against? Verse 18, it says that no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement. What would self-abasement be?

Do you know a term for that? Asceticism. Yeah, what is that? Give me a real world example of that. Well, I think of a certain religion where they beat themselves and crawl on their knees in the rocks and that sort of thing. Yeah, crawl to make up. Why do they do that? I guess they think they have to work their way through suffering. They're punishing themselves. Punishing themselves for what? To be closer to God? Maybe because they sinned that day?

Therefore I need to stab myself in the arm? I don't know. Walk on coals? Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? That's our sin nature, just tell me what to do and I'll do it. Yeah? And feeling bad about their sins, so if they do something to abase themselves, maybe they'll feel better? I mean, we couldn't imagine doing that, could we? What's another one? Hint, verse 16? Emanations, right? That's where that comes from.

By the way, you notice how Paul in Colossians doesn't go after the Gnostics? He doesn't say, oh, this guy's wrong, this guy's wrong. No, he just plows right through them with the truth. He just tells them all fullness is in Christ and you are fullness because you're in Him. And all the words you talked about that Paul uses would be evident to them that he was talking about their beliefs, don't you think?

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I'm skipping ahead in question four. Where do you think the source of the secular intrusion came from? Judaism is probably pretty obvious. It's kind of just around, right? What else? Where else do you think? The Gnostics. Gnostics? Where do you think they came from? There was a metaphysic of the Jews called Kabbalah. What does Gnosticism even mean? What does Gnostic mean? To know. Therefore Gnosticism would be increasing in knowledge. They're all about increasing in knowledge. You think of what was going on in the day. It was all about knowledge. I'll talk at once. How about the Greeks? What were the Greeks famous for? Yogurt sauce? Yogurt sauce? Philosophy? Was it Aristotle? Know thyself? It's pretty good. Rationalism? Rationalism, yeah. Brian? Yes. When we were studying this before some time, that word philosophy could, in New Testament times, could include the occult. So you're talking about the source, the source of the pensive habit. I'm sure, yes, Satan's involved, sure.

Just specifically, where did these... So you had said this church at Colossae, which, from all we can tell, is not very big. Not very affluent, not very known in the region. Kind of like the way I equate it is, it's a church in the middle, it's a small church in the middle of nowhere, and you have the great apostle Paul writing a letter to them. A fantastic epistle to them.

First of all, why? Second of all, why is he so concerned about them being kidnapped by philosophy and empty deception? Impossible for anybody because in 1 Corinthians we're warned about, I'll let him who thinks he stands stay keyed lest he fall. We can all be kidnapped if we're not careful, don't you think? So the source of the secular intrusion in Colossae specifically Colossi was a town on the Silk Road network. Do you remember anything about the Silk Road? Where did it go? China. Any philosophies or empty deceptions come out of China? Zoroastrianism, you ever heard of that one? Really? Last time I taught this, nobody had ever heard of Zoroastrianism. I hadn't either. By the way, Zoroastrianism was named after a guy named Zoroaster. So, that shouldn't explain it. Hinduism, Buddhism, right? Coupled with Gnosticism, Judaism.

Oh, and we add to the ingredient list some Christian words. That's how they could have been deceived. What about you guys? Everybody is susceptible to this. Yeah, absolutely. You're totally hanging out to be dried. You will be captured. What are some things to... I'm sorry, yes?

Political correctness. Political correctness, fantastic. Fantastic, right? political correctness, some political activism or whatever thrown around with some Christian words? That sounds good. What about psychiatry? Psychiatry? There's a rabbit trail. There's that one kind of He's a popular guy right now. He's young. He's kind of Asian.

Oh, Joseph Prince? Yeah, I mean, he's got some identification truths down, but there's a lot that's not right. Anybody aware of Joseph Prince? No. Yeah? You ever read anything about him? Yes. You ever heard him talk? Yes. I tell you, one chapter is fantastic. The next chapter, no idea where this guy's coming from. I mean, it's amazing. It's like, did you not read your own chapter? The people get deceived by this. He's got a church of 20,000 or whatever in Singapore, I think it is. It's all over the TV. I don't think he's an apostle. I think he's getting there. He's got to move up the chain.

Can I ask? Yes. Can't I still be a Christian, a believer, and still believe that psychiatry can help you. And that I do like Joseph Prince. I mean, I think that I've learned enough here that if there is this rabbit trail that you guys talk about, that I wouldn't go on that. But I don't agree with everything you say.

Does that make me What? Weird? It makes you a Berean. Makes me a what? A Berean. I can't. A Berean. Oh, there's that word again. What that means is you go check things out and that's really good. And check them out. You don't take anybody's word. You go to the Word of God and you check it out. I wouldn't be here today if I hadn't been observing him. Wouldn't you say it is dangerous though, like someone who really does know the Word of God? You're assuming that. I'm assuming you're generalizing that statement from the guy who's getting closer. He's three runs away. We'll talk later.

I'm saying I've learned from bad mistakes that having a guy that has one good chapter and he's full of baloney and every other chapter stay away from it. That's a dangerous thing to do more. Here today, are we talking about those who haven't been instructed? No. We're talking about those who have been instructed. What about you Holly Hill Billions? Are we talking about you? I mean, are you going to go read, you know, whatever big name preacher and just fall right into whatever he says? You're going to be a Berean.

Right? So does that mean you're being held captive? No, you're warned against being held captive. But how do you help yourself from being taken captive? You're instructed. Rooted, right? You have been rooted, are now being grounded and built up. Just as you were instructed in verse 7. You can only know counterfeit if you study the real thing. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

I was making a joke yesterday. My daughter Addie, who's 7, we were swimming in the pool the other day and she was proud of herself because she could pick me up in the pool. So she was trying to pick me up yesterday. And of course she couldn't do it. I was joking with Mike that that means I'm grounded.

So yeah, instruction. Paul tells them, just as you were instructed, right? Just as you were instructed, therefore as you have received Christ Jesus, so walk in Him. Just as you were instructed. That's what keeps you from being taken captive. Not that it's not possible. So we're not going to go read whoever and just be tossed around with the wind.

Something or other, seven or eight talks about being tossed in the wind by every doctrine, being double two-faced, is that what it is? Double-minded. Double-minded, thank you. Tossed around by every wave. That word for wave is the very top of the wave, where the wind hits it at the hardest. If you're grounded in the instruction, in the correct instruction, are you going to be tossed around? I'm not anymore. I used to be. Well, I think there's such a tendency to think that you've got it. And then like Scott was saying, you become complacent. Yeah.

I think that all of these verses point to one thing, and that is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as I and all of us as believers grow in the knowledge and grace of Him, whereas there is this personal intimacy with him, then the protection is greater because if the falsehood comes towards you, because like Bruce was saying, if you know the real thing, and I mean not just objective knowledge, you have a personal fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, there's the protection. Because you recognize, wait a minute, this isn't of him. This is not something that I know of Christ would be. And so I see the focus here is to point the Colossians, to this intimacy with Him. He keeps laying out the value of Christ, and it's more than just having a thorough knowledge about Him. It's an issue of intimacy with Him.

That's why I love, in verse 9, he doesn't stop there. In verse 9 he doesn't just say, for in Him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form, and we're supposed to trust Him, the One who has all the fullness. That's great. No, no. He goes further and says, and you are, and in him you are fullness. Right?

There's the protection. I think the other danger that we get into is, you know, we put in a great man or a great book and things like that. We're instructed to be from the word. And we have lots of guys, great men who are great teachers. I look at Darby. Darby was great, but then He went off the deep end on Close Brethren and things like that. Any great man, anybody can fall away and any great book can be great.

We're instructed from the word. And I think that's something we should go back to at all times, not what this person says or this book says or anything. And the danger is we put our trust in man or their interpretation of this. And like I said, one chapter may be good, but the next six are terrible. You know, you get hooked in the first and you go blindly through the next six. You get complacent. And so it always goes back to the word.

You know, the intimacy comes from Mike's favorite, you know, the Corinthians 318, that it comes from the mirror. And it's the word. And that's where you get the intimacy, is looking at him. in the word, not in what somebody else says, but what the word says.

And the danger is, I think, where our danger is, we get picked up by somebody who sounds really good, who's really popular, who, you know, boy, he says some really good things. And so you take the bait. And then, like I said, chapter one is great, but the next six, and You're going along and picking up all this deception, like I said, unlocking the arms and starting to travel off because you have one good thing. I said in the end times there can be angels of, you know, deceivers who will be like angels of light. And I think a lot of people sound really good and get you hooked.

But the ultimate authority is to go back to the word. And that's what I think in all these things is go back to the word. That's the mirror. That's where the intimacy comes from, is looking at the word, not what somebody else tells you about it. It's looking at the word. And that's our grounding. It has to be.

Otherwise, we get tossed away. Well, I didn't get past chapter one. I was going to say that when I first came to this group, I'm going along happily. And then they started talking about the attitude isn't really it's useful for us, but it's not for us. I'm going on being concentrating stuff. So I mean, even here, we have to be careful, you know, so far, so good.

You know, I'm hearing the truth. Even that was like, wow, where does this go? Yeah, absolutely. You'd be a Berean. Eyes closed. Father, thank you for this time. Thank you for asking Paul to write the book of Colossians. Just how much wealth of knowledge is in there. And just knowing that we are fullness. We have been made fullness because we're in you. And just thank you so much for that protection. Thank you again, in Jesus' name. Amen.