[0:00] Now, we are in Colossians chapter 2, continuing our study, and we will look from verses 1 through verse 10.
And so if you'd stand with me, I'd like to read these 10 verses for...
So Colossians 2, verse 1, For I want you to know what a great conflict, I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

[0:49] Now this I say, lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words, for though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as you have been taught abounding in it with thanksgiving.
Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit.
According to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world and not according to Christ.
For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him who is the head of all principalities and power.
Lord, we thank you for your word and just how powerful it is.
And we just ask that, Lord, it would impact us by the power of your spirit working, and that Lord, we could look to you, in all that we do because we know you and we know your word.
We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. You can all be seated.
So I entitled this message, Confident in Jesus.

[2:14] And if you remember about chapters and verses in the Bible, you know that in the original form, there were scrolls and not chapters and verses, but it was put in chapters and verses for us for easy reference, which I'm really glad that we have that.
And on Wednesday night, I mentioned, you know, starting 1 Kings, I mentioned that Kings, was originally one book.
So you had not 1 and 2 Kings, you didn't have 1 and 2 Samuel, you didn't have 1 and 2 Chronicles, but they were one book.
And then back, it was 150 BC, when the translators who translated the Hebrew into the Greek, the Septuagint, they made the one book of 1 Kings into 1 and 2 Kings and so forth, which makes it easier for reference and separating the years and events and making it easier.
And so with that in mind, we have here a continued flow of thought.

[3:27] As Paul used in verse one, the same word here, but in noun form, that he used there instead of the verb form from verse 29, striving.
You see there where Paul says that I also labor striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.
And so we have there the word striving.

[3:58] But you notice it's striving, but not in his own power, he says there, but in his might.
I remember my pastor would say, he would always say, if you strive to attain, you must strive to maintain.
And I took that to heart.
I took that to heart. What wisdom in those words. And to know that we're doing this, you know, in his strength.
You know, there's been a lot of times that I've gone the wrong way and I've tried to do things in my own strength and that ends up being a train wreck.
It's not good and it's not fun, but I've done it. I hope to do it not again, but like I said, I can't be so optimistic about myself as I would like to.
But striving, you know, I've heard, you know, concerning the ministry, Concerning commitment and concerning serving, where I've heard, I can't do this, you know, this is too hard, this takes, this requires too much.
Well, in Newsflash, it's not about you doing it.

[5:11] And it's about Him doing it, it's God working through you. And so we see this expressed here by the Apostle Paul.
And so, you know, there in chapter one, So Paul is laboring in ministry and striving, but it's God who's working through him.
And then also we see, you know, where Paul says, you know, I've labored in ministry, I was striving and so forth.
I wanna mention that Paul, reflecting on this in regards to his ministry, he said this.
In 1 Corinthians 15 and 9 to 11, And he says, for I am the least of the apostles who am not worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God, but by the grace of God, I am what I am.
And his grace toward me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God, which was with me.
Therefore, whether it was I or they, So we preach and so you believed.
You realize how important this word is that Paul gave us? Because first of all, he said, I labored more than the rest of them.

[6:38] And the thing is, is that that wasn't the point. The point he was saying was, and not that I'm supposed to compare what I do to what you do.
No, that's wrong. Because anything that I do is by him and by his grace.

[6:56] And so what we're responsible for is to do what we're called to do.
Not to look at somebody, they do, oh, they do so much more. They're so much more spiritual.
That's not true. What's true is that you answer the call for yourself. God's given you something to do. Do it wholeheartedly. It's not you doing it. It's him doing it through you.
Apostle Paul wasn't saying, I'm better than the rest of the apostles because I do more.
It would be true. He did more. But all the other apostles were all the other apostles were also true to their call. Spirit build and being used mightily by God and then down through the ministries in the church. And so be careful that you don't get to where your eyes are on you and so that, discourages you from serving the Lord. It's not about you. Be busy for Jesus. And so also, in verse 1 he says, I want you to know. And so he has furthermore to say, I want you to know something about me he's gonna share. I want you to know, you know, how I I personally feel about this. What a great conflict.

[8:10] He says, this is, he says, I know what a great conflict I have for you.
And so as soon as he says that, conflict for others, not conflict about himself, struggled about myself.
I struggle about all these things about me.
No, his conflict and his struggle was for others. And I would only say, are you invested in such a way that those conflicts are for others or are in such a way that it's all about you, you know?
Or are you all in serving the Lord?
What a great conflict. And the word means a fight, a race. I'm in a fight, I'm in a race.
And he gave a word to Timothy as he was discipling Timothy into ministry, in 1 Timothy 6, 11, 12, it says, "'But you, O man of God, flee these things.'" a whole list of things that he was to stay away from.
Flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.
He says, fight the good fight of faith.

[9:19] Lay hold on eternal life to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Fight the good fight. He's saying, contend in the conflict.
He's using that same wording, fight the good fight. That verb to contend with adversaries is what it means.
It means to struggle with difficulty.
It means that the difficulty and the struggle is strenuous.

[9:51] And Paul is saying, I'm all in, this is what I do. You know, you might realize in the thought, thought. Like you take somebody like in the political realm, you take somebody like President Trump. Well, in the struggle, it's, you know, it's the whole thing ends up being part of the spiritual battle of all these things that are going on. And, the reason is, is because what's at stake. That's why. You know, when Apostle Paul was wrestling with a lot of these things, the wrestling was in the area of the Roman government.
It was also wrestling in the area of religious leaders, besides just the philosophy that he was up against, and the different things that the world was pushing forward.
And so many of the issues at hand are linked together like a chain.

[10:58] And this is where we need discernment. This is where we need wisdom.
Because all the main roads and the side roads, they lead back to the spiritual battlefield for souls.
That's where they all lead back to.
That's why we have to take these things serious. You know, sometimes some of us are so, what's that word, so heavenly minded, there are no earthly good, you know.
Well, I'm not sure I agree with that, but I could see that a Christian having their heads in the clouds and not seeing what's going on in the world that are destroying people, and trying to silence the message of the gospel, but standing for truth is our objective and our aim is not spreading democracy, but the gospel.
See, that's gotta be our end game. So I'd only say, pray for President Trump as one example and his family and all other political leaders that are standing for truth.
And it's important. And you know they're attacking President Trump.
I don't usually talk about politics at all, but I get worked up sometimes about it.
But I see them attacking him. Well, he's a pro-life president.

[12:20] And so the pro-choice hate him. And they're doing everything to silence him because he's a front runner and strong voice and all that.
Yeah, there's a lot of other important issues. The bleeding at the South border and the re-digging for oil and some of the other things.
You have religious freedom. You have first and second amendment rights, the freedom of speech, and the whole gun control issues. Those are all very important issues.
I would not say they weren't.
But killing babies every day.

[13:06] That's the most important issue. And so this is the kind of things that are going on and it all leads back to the spiritual battlefield. That's what we need to keep in mind.
And how we fight that battle is not with physical weapons, but we're fighting a spiritual enemy.
And I know.

[13:32] I know concerning the fight, Paul knew and he wrote it's not the flesh and blood people who's behind it. Sure, the enemy uses flesh and blood people, but that's not who's behind it.
And, you know, we have a spiritual enemy and it may appear as we're, you know, fighting against one thing or another, but we need to focus in on what God's Word says and and stay on, stay the course. Be careful not to get sidetracked. How easy it is to get emotional or to get sidetracked on issues and miss the whole point. And I, you know, I remember reading an article where this man who invented the, intermittent windshield wipers that you enjoy on your cars.
Mine's broken on my Toyota right now. I only got fast speed.
That's the only thing I have. And then when I have to turn it off, I have to turn it off just as it hits the bottom.
So my switch is broke, and so through all that rain and stuff, I go, shh, shh, shh, like that, and then time it.
So it's a convenient thing to have these wipers.

[14:50] Well, the man who invented basically got submarine by some of the big car companies, I think, I don't know which ones, but anyway, some of the big car companies, and they hijacked his invention.
And so he spent the next 30 plus years in courts trying to win his case.
He spent all his livelihood, he lost his family.
And guess what, he won the case. Was it worth it?

[15:18] So see, that's my point. Is it worth fighting a fight like that to prove a point?
Or is it better to serve Jesus Christ and then we win our battles by.
By the power of His might, not us. And so we have to be very careful because I know that there's Christians called to be politicians.
I know there's Christians called to be lawyers.
I'm glad it's not me.
That's all I have to say. But we have to pray for them because God places His people in certain places.
And I just look at that and I just cringe to the thought of being in some of those places.
And so, ask for wisdom, ask for leading.

[16:04] In verse two, or chapter two, verse one, for I want you to know that this great conflict, the word also means an agonizing, the New Living Bibles use the word agonizing.
And so, when I think of agonizing, I think of Jesus upon the cross.
I think of Jesus upon all that he had endured, you know, where it says in Luke 22, 44, Jesus is in the garden of Gethsemane before his arrest, and in being in agony, he prayed more earnestly than, and then his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
His very physical body was under that much stress.
The perfect Lord, never ever one sin.
And yet that's the kind of pressures that came against his physical body.
The extreme physical, spiritual, mental sufferings by choice, not backing down, not looking for the easy way of escape, not looking for another way to avoid getting involved.
You know, I'm so busy, I don't wanna be bothered. I've got so much to do.
Instead, those who agonize are all in, in for the count.

[17:31] I have for you the conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, just 25 miles north, a church I think like Colossae, in fact, is a new church.
He says, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.
So Paul's describing himself here.

[17:52] Yeah, he hasn't even met them. But why is he all in with this conflict?
Is because they know Jesus.
You know, he went on record in the very first, really, words of his letter, where he said in chapter one, verse three and four, for we give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints.
And so they heard of what God was doing and they were praying for them.
And now he's got this great conflict for them.
He's caring for them. So often like us, if you've ever been on a missions trip.

[18:35] Where you meet people in the missions field and all of a sudden at some hour or another, your heart is just knitted with them because they know Jesus and you know Jesus and something supernatural speeds up the process, of the way we care for one another.
I've experienced it, and it's incredible.
And so there, you know, Paul, they haven't even seen him yet.
In verse two it says that their hearts, his prayer, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of Father and of Christ.

[19:24] And so there you have where it says hearts may be knit together. Another way of describing unity.
And unity in the first church was a huge dynamics because they met together in one accord, and the Spirit blessed them. And so we all know that healthy sheep reproduce.
And so when you think about a setting where there's division and quarreling in a group of, people, regardless of why they're meeting, isn't the point, but the fact that there's quarreling and division or any of that, do you think you'd wanna join that group or be part of that group or even be in around that group?
I would say no.
And so, what attraction would that have for a church?

[20:17] If a church was in that sort of situation, And the answer is none.
There's none, certainly none. I don't think the Holy Spirit could work in a setting where there's division, and all this contention and backbiting and different things.
But it tells us where the blessing of God is in Psalm 133, one to three.
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell together in unity.
It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments.
It is like the dew of Hermon descending upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessings life evermore.
So I wanna encourage us as a body of believers, please let's be unified.
If you have something that bugs you about somebody else, talk to them personally about it.
If you don't wanna talk to them personally about it, Let it go.

[21:25] Let it go, because that's where God commands the blessing. And if you look at what follows there in verse two, it speaks there of the atmosphere of love is where it happens.
You see that? Knit together in love. And Jesus, of course, repeats that over and over in the new command that he's given to us.
We understand that from many places, but just in one, in John 13, 34 and 35, a new commandment, I give to you that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. He repeats it there.

[22:03] By this, all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
The demonstration of love is in unity.
And so if somebody comes in here and says, oh, these guys really care about each other, this is a genuine setting here.
Then your testimony and your words and the things we stand for has an impact that the Holy Spirit will encourage. Also, verse 2, it says, attaining to, notice, not some but all riches, in full assurance. The idea there is in understanding. The idea is that all this hinged on that knowing this is an understanding this is being able then to practice this because you're understanding the Word of God in truth, and we know love is not blind.

[23:03] Love covers a multitude of sin, the very sin that it knows about.
It's not blind and faith isn't in faith in itself.
We have faith in truth.
And so it's understanding this. It's not wishful thinking.
It's not unrealistic expectations. No, it's truth.
We stand for truth.
And so it goes on there. it says, both knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ. That's the mystery of God.
Father, God, and Jesus Christ, who is God, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
And so the false teachers of that day were teaching to pursue worldly wisdom.
The philosophy of the world is what they were holding up as having the answers apart from Christ.

[24:04] And Paul is basically saying regarding God and the spirituality as the context, he says, all you need to know is found in God.
That's what he's saying. And as my pastor writes, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Jesus.
In other words, because he is God, he is omniscient. He knows everything.
There is to know. So when I get into those situations where I just can't predict what the future will hold and I don't know what to do, it is so wonderful to know that as I commit my ways to him, he uses all his wisdom and knowledge there to help me and guide me.".

[24:53] And that's where it's at. It's good stuff. That takes my eyes off myself and with my eyes fully opened in faith, I look to God. That's what we're supposed to do. You know, God is all knowing. We know very little. But when we know the scriptures, believe in them and trust in them. We have a tendency of doubt even the little bit we know. And the enemy wants to to undermine what we do know.
And so verse four, now, this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words.
So the indication of false teaching coming in, persuading you away from what we're reading here and trusting in Christ for though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
And so they were tracking there in Colossae with the Lord and he couldn't wait to see it.
And they were walking with the Lord. And as you therefore have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him. In other words, stick with it, stick with it.
But how?

[26:16] But how? one foot in front of the other. Keep it simple. But how do I accomplish such a big thing? Well, one foot in front of the other. First things first. I mean, have you ever like seen a project and was so overwhelmed by looking at it that you, just don't even want to start it? So you don't? But somehow or another when you it's like, wow, this is really getting going.

[26:41] That's how it works, following the Lord. It's like, you know, the Lord shows you something, and you pray about it. You feel like, hey, that's what the Lord's showing me to do, but that's just too big. So you don't put one foot in front of the other. You don't walk. You don't stick with it. He's saying, stick with it. Keep on keeping on. Paul's saying, rooted. This is the key. Rooted and built up in Him. Established, in the faith as you have been taught. Abounding in it with with thanksgiving. So there's the key. And that as it associates with wisdom and knowledge and understanding, you know, God, God's Word tells us a Proverbs I really like that, talks about this Proverbs 24, three and four through wisdom a house is built. By understanding it is established and by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant Riches, rooted and built up, built up.
It speaks of growing and being fruitful.

[27:41] You know, years ago, I grew up in Norwalk, California, and we used to walk, I always tell everybody, I never got a ride to school, ever.
It didn't matter the weather.
That sort of rhymed, but I used to walk to school, and I remember our junior high school, seventh and eighth grade there was, I want to say, maybe even two miles away from our house. And so, we get into a lot of trouble two miles of walking in the alleyways and so forth.
But a lot of fruit growing over the trees and the alleyways and and there was huge avocado trees.

[28:25] And I remember this one house because the mayor lived there, the mayor of Norwalk, and we used to walk by his really fancy house with two big avocado trees that come time of the year, avocados are dropping all over the place.
And down there, you just kick them out of the way. Over here, you pay two and three bucks for them, you know?
And so, well, years passed, and the mayor moved away, the mayor moved away and somebody that was known by somebody in the family related kind of a couple times removed bought the house that the mayor lived in and had these two humongous avocado trees. Anyway, they stopped producing.
And so they were thinking, well, you know, I guess we can just cut them down.
Well, somehow through the course of events they ran into an old-timer that said no, all you have to do is hammer iron pipes all around the base of these avocado trees. And they're like, what? Are you kidding me? So they did. They hammered these iron, pipes around these two avocado trees. And the next year it produced avocados again.

[29:39] And to me, that's fascinating. Because meanwhile, the Bible is telling us in the same way, it's God's Word that produces the fruit.
In our lives and is what impacts our lives. In Jeremiah 23, it tells us the prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream.
And he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully.
What is the chaff to the wheat, says the Lord? Is it not my word like a fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
Therefore behold, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who steal my words, everyone from his neighbor.
Behold, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who use their tongues and says, he says.
In other words, the false representatives of the word.
We're misrepresenting the Lord. Isaiah 55, 10 through 13 says, for as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven.

[30:42] And do not return there, but water the earth and make it bring forth in bud, that it may give seed to the sower, bread to the eater, So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth.
It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please and it shall prosper in the things which I sent it.
For you shall go out with joy and be led out with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall bring up the cypress tree.
Instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree, shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." See the impact of the Word? Bringing forth fruit. Psalm 119.05 of course says, your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. And so we need to be rooted and built up in the Word of God. That's why we go through the Word of God. It's important for the health of the body, for the victory that we need to have. Beware of the, Beware, Paul says next.

[31:52] Lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world and not according to Christ.
Cheat means to lead from the truth.
Cheat means to put distance between you and the truth. Distance you from the truth.
He says, beware. Why? Because it's a possibility.

[32:18] Watch out for men propagating worldliness to justify worldliness and worldly living in the name of Christ.

[32:30] You expect it in the world, but when they come to justify it in the name of Christ, beware of false worship in the name of Jesus.
False worship.
This kind of thing that he's warning them against. For in Him.

[32:53] In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete who is in the head, who is the head of all principalities and power.
And so, with that in mind about being undermined or being cheated, you have to ask the question, well, how do we know when the teaching is contrary to truth?
Because you know the genuine article.
Paul has stressed knowing God's word. Otherwise, you can get duped.

[33:32] You know, some parts of the Word are dry, you know, to go through.
Lots of the Old Testament, oh, I don't wanna go through all that.
Well, God reveals truth in all of that.
And so we just don't skip any of it, we just go through it.
But now Paul says, he speaks of something very, very important here in these last verses nine and 10.
Because the thoughts might be flowing among the saints. You say it's his might working in me, but the idea is shouldn't it be God's might, that I'm needing and wanting? And this verse 9 and 10 here would answer that question.

[34:24] If anyone was wondering. Because the Bible does teach that Jesus is a hundred percent man and a hundred percent God. It is His strength. It's God's strength. The Bible tells us in John 1, 1 through 3, in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him nothing was made that was made. Go down the chapter a little bit to the 14th verse. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. So who's the Word? That is God, Jesus Christ, who became flesh. He's 100% man. He's 100% God. And again, I have to quote my pastor. He He writes this, all the fullness.
This is the strongest affirmation possible of the deity of Christ.
In him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. The word for fullness.

[35:32] Here is the strong Greek word palarma, meaning the whole package.
Everything that there is to God was in Jesus Christ in a bodily form.
The glorious part for us is in verse 10, where Paul said, and you are complete in him.
The word translation complete is from the same Greek word palarma, You are complete in Him. He is all you need. Amen. He is all you need. We can put our trust in Him.
We can trust the Lord. He is God. The Lord, He is God. And so we trust in Him. We trust in His Word.
Beware. We need His counsel to combat in the battle that we're in. Everywhere we look, every channel we turn to, there's a subliminal message.

[36:29] That's there, even in some of the most wholesome of things. But the point is is that we have to be able to see through the eyes of God's word, the eyes that God's word gives us, the discernment, in other words.
And so read ahead.
If you need prayer, please come forward afterwards and Mike and Jeremy up here to pray with you.
And just keep your eyes on the Lord, keep reading His word, keep praying.
Remember, all roads do lead back to that battlefield, battlefield, spiritual battlefield, where souls, souls are at stake.
And so don't be so naive and don't be like an ostrich and stick your head in a hole, thinking that it's just gonna all go away and you know enough to say, well, God's on the throne and everything's gonna work out the way that God chooses to.
Well, the further point is, is that God chooses to use us.

[37:33] And so if you stick your head in a hole, then he'll just move on to someone else, to carry out, using imperfect people to carry out His perfect plan.
We're part of it if we so choose to accept the mission.
Amen? Let's stand together.

[37:52] So Lord Jesus, thank you for your word again. And we just ask, Lord, that you be glorified, in our lives and in this place.
It's not by accident that we're passing through this place in time, this place in history, in this location, and all of us, Lord, ending up in the same place, help us to be unified, that we would bear fruit.
Help us to be looking to you and not lose the eternal perspective, your soon return, so that somehow or another, if we do, this temporal place becomes way too important, and we have strings attached that shouldn't be.
We hold things too tight that we should hold loosely.
So Lord, I just pray for this congregation, this church family, that Lord, we would honor you and glorify you and bless your name.
Lord, we pray for our community and ask that we could be that lighthouse, to send the gospel message throughout and make disciples of men.
So we pray, Lord, that we would be available for that. for that. And we ask this in Jesus' name and all believers say it. Amen. Amen. God bless you.