WWUTT 067 Broken Rocks (Colossians 2:6-23)

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The Bible tells us to be built upon the solid rock of Christ Jesus, and when the devil's schemes come up against us, we will stand firm.
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But if we are not built upon Christ, if we're built upon a foundation of shifting sand, shifting ideas, or shifty ideas, then the devil's schemes will succeed in knocking us out, not just in this life, but for all eternity, when we understand the text.
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You're listening to When We Understand the Text, an online Bible ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty.
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Find videos and more at our website, www .wutt .com. Now here's our host,
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Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. That is my wife, by the way. My daughter Annie, who listens to this broadcast on occasion, she said to me,
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Daddy, you really need to tell people who Becky is. She's your wife. That's good advice, Annie. So that's my bride, and I so appreciate her lending her voice to the intro and the outro of this program.
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Yesterday, I mentioned being a homeschool parent, and when it comes down to it, my wife is the one who invests the most amount of time in the education of our children, and I think that she does a wonderful job.
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I know she doesn't feel that way sometimes, doesn't feel like the kids are getting it, and she feels like she's not doing a good job, but they may not get it in the moment, but over time, you can definitely tell.
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I'll give you an example of this. Over the weekend, my wife was ill, and so I took the kids so she could rest, and we went on a homeschool adventure.
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We even made it educational, and while we were gone, at some point during the trip, my son asked me,
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Daddy, what time is it? Now, my wife had been teaching Zeej how to tell time.
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The little hand is the hour hand, the big hand is the minute hand, and no matter how many times she repeated it to him, it just didn't seem like he was getting it, and so she was getting kind of frustrated with herself, but when he asked me what time it was,
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I said, Zeej, it's cheese o 'clock, and he went, no, it is not cheese o 'clock.
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There is not a cheese hour. The little hand does not point to the cheese, so I was able to tell her, see, he gets it.
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He knows there's not a cheese hour. Anyway, today, as a matter of fact, they go and join their other homeschooling families for their little co -op group, and so they'll listen to this program on the way there, so hi, guys, and thanks for tuning in.
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We're in Colossians 2, verses 8 to the end of the chapter. If you want to open up your
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Bible and join with me there, Colossians 2, as we continue our study of this book and desiring to know
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Christ more, knowing that he is preeminent, and we are fully satisfied in our
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Savior Christ. We are to be built upon the rock of Christ Jesus, solid and unmoving.
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Have you ever heard of the Runimo inscription? In the 12th century, some Danish explorers found a rock in southern
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Sweden which appeared to contain an ancient Viking language. The king of Denmark deployed translators to the location to study what would eventually become known as the
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Runimo inscription. As the experts studied over the rock, they said that the etchings were too faded and the language too obscure that they couldn't decode it.
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About 500 years went by, various scholars studying over the Runimo inscription in that period of time, before a
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Danish antiquities dealer claimed to recognize a single word. It was the word lund, which was the name of a city in southern
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Sweden. So the theory then became that the inscription could be a poem or a song of some kind, either about a journey to Lund or a conquest that happened there.
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Fast forward another couple of hundred years, and a man by the name of Finner Magnusson claimed to have translated the
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Runimo inscription. It was an ancient poem, he said, about a man by the name of Harald Wartooth and his defeat of the
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Swedish king. Because if you're going to be a Viking, Harald Wartooth is the kind of name that you want to have.
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Anyway, so if Magnusson's interpretation was true, this was a significant find because that was a battle.
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Harald Wartooth's confrontation with the Swedish king was a battle that took place in the 8th century and very little was known about it.
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The Runimo inscription could be detailing a lost piece of Swedish and Danish history.
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However, the Swedes did not buy Magnusson's account of the
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Runimo inscription, so they sent their own expert to study it, and here is what he found. Not only was
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Magnusson's translation completely fabricated, but what had been studied for centuries, believing it to be an ancient language, was actually naturally occurring fissures.
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That's right. After being studied for 700 years, the
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Runimo inscription was nothing more than cracks in a rock.
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Now, the Runimo inscription is probably harmless enough. In my reading of that story, I didn't see any accounts of anyone dying over it.
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But there are ideas out there, some even older than the Runimo, that are much more dangerous and much more destructive.
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And there are experts pushing those ideas. This is the secret to the universe.
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This is the knowledge that you need to be successful at life, or even this is what you need to be happy. But what they're studying and the ideas that they're pushing are probably nothing more than a bunch of broken rocks.
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Such broken rocks include horoscopes, gambling, pornography. Some of the more deadly rocks include
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Darwinism, abortion, and same -sex marriage. Broken rock philosophers can include actors, pop musicians, and talk show hosts.
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Even teachers, politicians, and dare I say, even some pastors can be broken rock throwers.
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This is why it is so important for us to be grounded upon the knowledge that is given to us in Christ Jesus.
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And to understand that first, because when we know that first, we are able to see all the little counterfeit stuff that attempts to be sold to us as truth, but is really nothing more than empty deceit.
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Colossians 2 .8, see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy. And empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
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Before we come into our text today, starting in verse 6 and going to the end of the chapter, let's come to the
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Lord in prayer. Our wonderful God, we thank you for giving us your scriptures that we might be able to discern between what's right and what's wrong.
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The knowledge that the world tries to pass off as truth, but is really something that has been crafted by the enemy to try to take us away from the truth that is in Christ Jesus.
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So help us to be grounded there first. Help us to know Christ intimately and his word.
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Be passionate and zealous about knowing this word, so that we're able to identify the enemy's schemes.
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Keep us solid in this word, built upon the rock that is Christ Jesus. And we pray and ask these things in your name.
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Amen. So yesterday we looked at Colossians 2 verses 6 to the end of the chapter. I'm not going to go quite that far today.
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We'll go at least through verse 15 here. But Paul writes to the Colossians and says, Therefore, as you received
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Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
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See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
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For in him, in Christ Jesus, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.
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And you have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
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And you, who were dead in your trespasses in the uncircumcision of your flesh,
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God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.
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This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.
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So remember at the beginning of the chapter in Colossians chapter 2, Paul said that we need to be rooted in Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
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I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. In verse 6, as you have received
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Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
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See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ.
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Further on this concept of the elemental spirits of the world, let's go to Ephesians chapter 2.
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So we're in Colossians 2 here. Flip back a little bit to Ephesians chapter 2. This is an excellent chapter and one that I have used to share the gospel with many times.
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Ephesians 2 beginning in verse 1. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked.
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Sounds familiar, right? Very similar to something that Paul is saying here to the Colossians. As he says in Colossians 2, 13.
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And you who were dead in your trespasses in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him having forgiven us all our trespasses.
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So very similar message that Paul gives to the Ephesians as well. You were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is at work now in the sons of disobedience.
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You know, I'm not real sure what this meant to a person in the first century.
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Prince of the power of the air. I'm not really quite sure what that would have meant to a person in the first century. But I know what it means to us here in this time and in this age.
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When we've got broadcasting, media, I guess medium applies as well.
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Anyway, whether that's over the Internet or you're watching television movies, listening to the radio, all of these different things that bombard us with all of these messages.
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If we're not careful, there is a lot of filthy stuff that gets in there.
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And all of those false messages that get shared over the airwaves, if we're not careful to filter some of that stuff.
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Now, there's no way that we can stay away from it entirely. We can't do that. In first Corinthians chapter five,
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Paul says, it's not possible for you to not associate with the people of this world, because otherwise you would have to go out of the world.
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So it's not possible for us to avoid it altogether. But we do need to be careful by how much of that we're exposing ourselves to.
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We can control it a little bit at least. And so if we're not careful about those messages, there are things that will get in there and all of those secular ideas and what's out there in the culture will infiltrate.
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And it will change and alter and manipulate your mind and your thinking.
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No matter how much you want to say, oh, I don't listen to the lyrics anyway. I just listen to the beat.
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I just want to hear catchy music. No matter how much you think that's what you're listening to those songs for.
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The lyrics of the songs that you listen to will get into your head. I remember when
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I used to contest with my dad when I was a kid, because he would make me listen to only Christian music.
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Now, he was a Christian radio planter. He would plant Christian radio stations. So it was the family business for one thing.
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But he wanted me to only listen to songs that were glorifying to God. He would not let me listen to secular music.
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No matter how many times I tried to say, dad, there was this song in this movie. Can't I just have this song? And he would tell me no.
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But as I've gotten to this age, I am so thankful that he did that. I'm glad that my parents set those fences up around me and protected me from some of the harmful messages that my friends were listening to.
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Because I can look at some of my friends whose parents were not as diligent to train and disciple them in this way and how far from the
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Lord some of them have fallen. And so I'm very thankful that God had put those fences around me to protect me from the prince of the power of the air.
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So you also have to be careful with what you are listening to. It will even go as far as changing your values.
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The television shows that you watch, the movies that you open yourself up to as well.
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These things can be desensitizing if we're not careful. Now, again, there's some element of that in a culture that's always going to get through.
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Because we're bombarded by commercial advertisements and all kinds of stuff constantly. There's a billboard that's not appropriate that I think of that's not far from my house.
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And I know just driving the interstate and passing by that billboard, there's a message there that's going to get into my mind. So there's all kinds of stuff all over the place that will assault our senses sometimes.
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And the messages of the enemy that will attempt to overcome or overshadow the message of the cross or the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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And this is one of the reasons why church is so important. I mentioned this last week that we need to go to church anyway because our
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Lord God commands us to. But one of the other things that makes church so important is that we get reminded of the gospel of Jesus Christ and it becomes kind of a cleansing for us.
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And it can help to cleanse our minds and our hearts, renewing our hope in Christ Jesus.
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And realizing that our minds and our hearts need to be focused there, heavenward, where Christ is, seated with Christ, as it talks about in Colossians 4.
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And we'll get to that later on. So these things about hearing the gospel and hearing the word of God preached every week will help to cleanse our minds of some of the messages of the cult, the toxicity of the culture that will get in there.
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All of these things are important because the prince of the power of the air is present. And he is attempting to accomplish his dark plan, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
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As Paul goes on in Ephesians 2, 3 to say, Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.
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So none of us should ever be big -minded about this. Well, I'm not subject to the prince of the power of the air. You're still following the devil.
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I'm not. I've been set free in Christ. By no work of your own. By no work of your own are you set free in Christ.
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So there is no place for us to boast over anybody else. We were at least at one point just like them.
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And so that should place upon us a desire all the more to share the gospel of Christ with the lost.
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Because we were not saved until we heard the gospel. So let us take the gospel to those who are still under the influence of the prince of the power of the air.
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They have some toxicity in their minds and hearts that need cleansed with the gospel. So we all were once in this.
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But as Paul says in Colossians, he says to the Corinthians, and in multiple places, to the
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Ephesians even later on, we must take off the old and put on the new. No longer living in our sinful, selfish ways, but living anew in Christ Jesus.
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So then here's the transition that Paul puts into this, Ephesians 2 .4. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.
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Same phrase that we've seen in Colossians 2. By grace you have been saved, and raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
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For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing.
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It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
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For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which
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God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So that is what you have been called to.
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That is what you must do. As a child of God, showing that you have been transformed, the evidence of that faith being that you do what
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Jesus has asked you to do, obeying his commandments. Now there's something else here in Ephesians 2, as we keep going, that I want to point out.
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Alright, I'm going to keep going. In verse 11, Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands, remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
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But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
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For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments, expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
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And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one spirit to the
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Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
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Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the
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Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the
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Spirit, built upon a foundation that was laid by the apostles, with Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the
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Lord, a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Does this help you understand a little bit more what it means to be built up in Christ, to have that solid foundation of Jesus Christ?
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I'll read you one other thing here as we come to a conclusion on this lesson today, and you'll probably guess where I'm going next,
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Matthew chapter 7, and talking about building your house on the rock. In Matthew 7, 24,
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Jesus said, Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
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And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
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And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
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And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.
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Now oftentimes I think that when we read this lesson that Jesus gives us in Matthew 7 on building your house on the rock, we think of the wind and the waves and the floods and all of these things being emotional things.
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Like when life gets tumultuous and things get hard and we get stressed out, that's what we think of being the wind and the rains and the flood.
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Now that can be. That can definitely be the case. When stuff gets tough, if we're not built upon the rock that is
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Christ, if we're on a shifting sand of false doctrine, then when things get hard, our doctrine's not going to sustain us and it's all just going to fall apart.
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So that can be an explanation of what the wind and the waves and all of that can be, but it is also the attempts of the devil, any attempt to draw us away from Christ, and the sand is anything that is not
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Christ Jesus. Any other foundation that we build our lives upon, our philosophies on, our love upon, our meaning for life, any of these things, we build it on a different foundation, our expectations on something else other than Christ, then when the devil's schemes come at us, he will succeed in knocking that building out and great the fall of it will be.
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In other words, it won't just be something that'll destroy us in this life, it'll destroy us for all eternity.
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We must be built on the solid rock of Christ Jesus, no longer being swayed by empty deceit and false philosophy and the ways of the prince of the power of the air, but listening to the creator of the air himself, the word of God, Jesus Christ.
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Our Lord, as we finish up this lesson today, I pray that you continue to appeal to our hearts, convicting our hearts, drawing us closer to you more and more in the direction of your word, loving your word, storing this up in us.
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Have it, continue to train us and teach us as we go throughout our day. And we pray this in Jesus' name.
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Amen. Christmas is in the air.
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Yes, even before Thanksgiving, Christmas is everywhere. Christmas trees, Christmas lights, Christmas cookies, and protesting every pagan, godless, unbeliever who doesn't wish me a
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Merry Christmas. Okay, now whether or not you think there's a war on Christmas, it's pretty obvious the word has been censored.
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Removing it from songs and schools and public displays, you could do all your Christmas shopping and probably not see the word a single time, let alone a nativity scene.
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But don't respond to everyone else's Scrooginess by being a Scrooge yourself. You remember Ebenezer Scrooge, right?
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The main character from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol? He waged a war on Christmas, yet despite his bah -humbug attitude, his nephew wished him a
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Merry Christmas and invited him to Christmas dinner. So do that. If someone wishes you happy holidays or whatever, kindly wish them a
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Merry Christmas. Don't let anything steal your joy about Christ. If you have Jesus in your heart, show it.
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That's the way we're supposed to be all year round. We're to do everything without grumbling or disputing so that we may be blameless and pure, children of God without blemish in a crooked and twisted generation in which we shine as lights in the world.
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Again, that's all the time. Why should Christmas be any different? Look, there are people out there who want you to get riled up because it means good ratings for them.
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That's part of this so -called war on Christmas. Don't give in to it. Remember the words of the angels.
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Glory to God in the highest and peace on Earth. Goodwill to men.
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When we understand the text. Yes, surely you've heard about this Josh Fierstein brew -ha -ha, which is a great name for the controversy.
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Brew -ha -ha. Because it has to do with Starbucks and their coffee. Get it? Brew? Anyway, apparently they used to have nice Christmas decorations on their cups, but this year their cups are just plain red.
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Fierstein, he's the guy that goes, Hey guys, Josh Fierstein here. Share if you care. Anyway, he told people to tell
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Starbucks that their name is Merry Christmas so that they have to write Merry Christmas on the cup.
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And in his video, he's all excited about how he tricked Starbucks and yada yada. Last night, it was a hot topic trending on Twitter.
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I'm sure it's the same on Facebook, but I don't really follow the Facebook trends. Anyway, guys, this is all hype and it's being perpetuated by a hype man.
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Josh Fierstein is a false teacher. He uses the name of Jesus to gain attention for himself. He might talk about God, and he's a gun -toting
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Republican, but it doesn't make him a Christian. His doctrine is false. He denies fundamental doctrines, including that Jesus is the
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Son of God. He's what's called a modalist. He believes that God appears in different modes, but he's not actually
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Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Denying the Trinity is heresy. 1 John 2 .22
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says, Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, he who denies the
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Father and the Son. When you get fundamental doctrines wrong, you'll be wrong on a host of other things as well, and this is not the way to handle this situation.
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The Starbucks cup, their logo, is a mythological siren, the daughter of a false god.
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It doesn't matter if you write Merry Christmas on the cup, you're still holding a blasphemous cup in your hand.
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Now, really, I don't care if you drink Starbucks or not. Okay, that's not my point. Coffee's not my bag anyway.
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I'm not really a coffee drinker, which one of my elders tells me I need to repent of. Anyway, to get all worked up about writing
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Merry Christmas on a cup that has a pagan symbol on it, that is so ridiculous.
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And the focus is completely off. It's on Josh Feirstein and his hyperactivity.
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The focus is not on Christ here. Alright, see again. Plausible arguments and not something that is rooted in Christ Jesus.
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In Matthew 23, 25, Jesus said, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you are full of greed and self -indulgence.
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I tell you, be careful not to be that person, that hypocrite who writes
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Merry Christmas on the outside of your cup, but inside you're full of greed and self -indulgence.
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Choose your battles carefully here. And this Christmas, let's not get worked up over things that are not necessary for us to get so worked up on.
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Be kind and compassionate, sharing the love and the mercy of Christ, which was shown to each one of us.
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Go in peace. Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text. Pastor Gabe is the author of the book 40 of the
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Most Popular Bible Verses and What They Really Mean, available in paperback or for your Kindle. He's also authored a
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Bible study through the book of 1 Corinthians. Both books can be found at our website at www .utt
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.com. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's Word, When We Understand the