Colossians 1:4-12 - Strengthened By His Glorious Power

Thank you ladies.

That was that was perfect.

Thank you so much.

We miss Matt today though.

Don't we he's.

With a little sick baby who kept him up all night and.

So we miss you Matt.

We'll see you next time.

Anyway, you guys did great and We appreciate that good to see all of you today.

We Shall move on into the book of Colossians here in a few moments.

I trust all of you.

Well, I didn't know we had that much illness going around in the school right now because our family sort of had it.

You know before Christmas most of us anyway.

And went through our whole family and then I know Colin is ill.

Well, then walks a hatchie.

But we're pretty we're doing pretty good down in the Forest Glade area right now.

But I guess so it's kind of made its way to the course of Canada.

It's hitting the school, right?

Some quite a bit of illness and stuff.

Yeah.

Well, it's going around.

But I'm glad you guys made it here today and sometimes it's okay if they if they don't come if they're ill that way.

Maybe we stay okay, right?

But go ahead and be turning to Colossians chapter 1 where we're made our way through a couple of phrases in

verse 9 last time.

And we may get a couple more phrases in today, so let's pray and we'll get started Lord.

Thank you so much for the beautiful singing this morning and beautiful lyrics all about you Lord.

And thank you for our Bible.

Thank you for Breathing it giving it to us for protecting it through each generation

to the last generation preserving it Lord as you said your words are

spirit and they are life to us and thank you so much for that we we have nothing nothing in and of

ourselves and only by your word in us and By you and us is our hope of

glory.

So thank you for that.

We ask you to bless the teaching of the word today in Jesus name.

Amen.

Well verse 9 doesn't really make a lot of sense unless you know what came right before it.

Because it starts out with the word for you see that F O R because of so you gotta look up you gotta look up

above it and The Apostle Paul says for this cause we also.

Since the day we heard of it do not cease to pray for you.

So what is it?

What is it that he heard of so let's let's review that a little bit go up to go up to verse

Four.

Verse three says he's praying for this church.

Verse four says He's been praying for them since he heard of number one their faith in Christ

Jesus and number two the love which they have for all the Saints and

Ben is teaching in Philemon in Sunday school at 10 o 'clock and it had a lot to do with some of the things we're gonna talk

about today in Colossians, so we're in Colossians chapter 1 will be in verse 9 here

momentarily.

But but this these are what I call symptoms of salvation and the greatest one is the love for the

Saints I think and one that's very close to that is a desire to be in church together with other

believers.

When you know, you did not have that desire as a lost person so when the Holy Spirit visited you

and called you and opened your blind eyes and Allowed your deaf ears to

hear and quickened your dead spirit made it come alive.

Which is what generation is while we're yet in our sins have he?

Quickened us everything else is a an effect of that not the cause of it,

so Once that happens to you all of a sudden you have new things and new desires.

You want to read the word which you used to think was boring?

You want to go to church where you used to not want to be there and You may want to

run around in church like some folks do so it's fine with me.

I like it.

I am a grandbaby oriented person.

But anyway.

In fact, I'd rather keep the nursery than priest to you guys.

So.

You know, they swap out with whoever's in there eventually but.

So.

You you have these symptoms and so Paul had heard about this from this church.

He heard about their faith in Jesus, which you can't work that up.

That is not, you know.

Most churches don't even preach the true gospel anymore.

Did you know that I?

Then that's not me.

I mean that's coming from something.

I read recently that I thought was pretty brilliant.

J .I. Packer wrote a famous book that was famous in the 80s called knowing God.

Every church in the country read that book.

I mean they had groups of people Bible studies going on in churches where they did it around that book knowing God who's heard about it.

All right.

J .I. Packer wrote that book and recently.

There was a reprint of a book written in the 1400s.

I think or was it 1600s?

Probably 1600s, but in the preface of that book.

Reprint J .I. Packer wrote part of the preface and he's the one that said Most modern churches

are not preaching the gospel that's in the Bible anymore because he said what they're preaching is something where

They want you to come and make a decision that determines your eternal destiny and the true

gospel doesn't work that way.

The true gospel doesn't work that way at all the true gospel has two components that have to be there

and one is called the water and That's this book right here.

It's the gospel.

You have to have heard it and the second is called the Spirit.

That's the Holy Spirit.

And so it's the Holy Spirit that calls you and turn and quickens you and just turns everything on where your receptors

can for the first time see Jesus for who he really is and when that happens it changes everything and once that happens you have

All these effects like all of a sudden you want to get baptized all of a sudden you repent.

Which means change your mind about who's God it ain't you it's him and all these things.

But those are all effects of what's already happened.

And yet the church today says those effects cause the salvation.

So therefore now you need to come down this aisle.

You need me to tell you how to get saved and you need to give me money in the plates.

And that's why they do it.

That's what Paul said.

He said people that teach false gospels do it for their bellies sake that means money and It's sad to see

it's really sad, but I'm glad J .I. Packer famous famous Man of God who wrote

the best -selling book knowing God.

Glad he spoke about that.

So people can say well David didn't make that up.

All right.

Anyway, he sees these symptoms of salvation faith and love and those are the

main two.

It goes on talks about that they have a hope in heaven laid up in heaven.

I hope the word hope used to have a much more positive meaning than it does now.

I used to say I hope the Cowboys will win but they probably won't because they always get beaten in the playoffs

every time.

So that's what hope means now like I hope they win, but they probably won't.

It's a negative word.

The old English word and the Greek word is a positive word, which means the joyful expectation

of a certain future event.

And they had this joyful expectation of heaven that was laid up for them and Paul recognized it

and it says, you know.

They had heard about it in the truth of the gospel message.

So you see all these little things.

They also in verse 6 says they're bringing forth fruit.

Now I want you to notice this.

This is Colossians 1 6.

This hope that you heard from the word.

That's the Bible right from the Word of Truth.

So here he's holding up the Bible.

I want you to think about this a minute which is come to you.

What this faith this hope this love all of this has come to you as it has

in all the known world of that day the gospel had gone out and Brings forth fruit

as it does also in you since the day that you now, what's that next word say?

Heard it.

Heard it and knew the grace of God and truth.

Did you know you can't hear it until the Holy Spirit opens your ears.

And that's what happens at the moment of regeneration.

All of a sudden you had ears that here.

How many times did Jesus say ye that have ears to hear right?

So God has to open the ears of Depraved human beings and the Bible teaches it from

Genesis 1 all the way through the last book of the Bible.

It's just people don't read that stuff.

They like to read books about the Bible more than they like to read the Bible.

So they miss things and here's another thing a lot of us in this church like

Philosophy we like to think philosophically.

About thing about you know things that aren't seen things that are seen.

That's a good thing.

God says come let us reason together.

That's logic.

That means logic.

That means philosophy and that's great.

But you know what people like that like me and you so many of you like to do that.

You got to be really careful that you bring it back to the word.

All the time because even in a given week you can get off thinking about philosophical things.

That can lead you to a conclusion.

That is not biblical.

So Philosophy is only good when it's led by the Word of God.

It's only true when the presuppositions are true, right?

And they're only true when they're in line with this book.

So you got to be really careful to stay in the word especially if you're Younger people or

you have young people who are in college and they're going off to be taught by you know agnostic

professors who are first thing they're gonna tell tell your child how stupid you are and how stupid their preacher is and You know,

they're gonna start there and just subtly they won't say that but they just subtly imply it and how smart they

are then your young person needs to.

You know to know that he must keep his mind in this book or his philosophy will be false.

Because it'll be based on false preposition presuppositions.

And so we know that but I have to remind myself that every week I have to say okay.

I've just thought about some interesting things.

Maybe I heard something on YouTube and talk about philosophy by some you know lost person

maybe even an atheist who's debating a Pastor and the atheist says well, what about this or

maybe it's a Calvinist debating a Arminian and the Arminian says well, what about this

and you start thinking philosophically about it because they're most of those guys are just Debating philosophy

not Bible.

They're not actually quoting Bible verses.

They're not sharing pieces of scriptural knowledge that come from God.

Usually and they can move farther and farther away from this and when you come back to this you go.

Okay.

Now remember why I can't go with that.

Because God says it's not how it works.

So remember that will you because notice here before you get to verse 9.

He is pointing out that you've got this book and you have heard it because the Holy Spirit

opened your ears.

You now have ears that can hear with understanding.

That's what the Greek word means to hear with understanding because the Holy Spirit opened your mind.

Where you can read the Bible and hear and see God's words and they are spirit and they are

life.

Whereas when you were lost they meant nothing.

Now they're spirit life and and you want to spend some time in it every week.

And that's different than it was when you were lost and you know it and if you're not saved yet.

And that bothers you to hear it.

That's a good sign because it doesn't bother goats.

They don't care.

They'd rather eat the pages in this book and then to read it, right?

That's a joke.

Come on.

So I live on a ranch.

So forgive me, but anyway.

But the sheep, you know the sheep.

They'll they'll want to hear the Word of God.

So he noticed all these wonderful things about this church.

Before he ever got to verse 9 in verse 8 right before it says who also declared unto us about the

love.

That you have in the spirit.

It's impossible to have a goth a love unless you are born again.

You can only have human where you like stuff, but you only like people when they're treating you, right?

Agape love comes from you toward them.

It doesn't even matter what they're doing.

You still love them that only comes from God and he had noticed that in these people now we get to verse 9.

We covered a couple of phrases last time for this cause.

So all the stuff we just talked about is the reason he's even writing verse 9 you get that.

So you got to go back and review it like you hadn't read it in a while.

You go back and review it to see okay.

Why are we talking about this?

Well, because since the day we heard it.

We don't cease to pray for you heard what heard about the love you have heard about how your hearts been changed your ears are

open you have a hope in heaven all that there's fruit that you're bearing when you hear the word you bear fruit

because of that.

I Don't cease to pray for you.

And then he has some desires that he has for them that he puts into his prayers.

Number one that they might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual

understanding.

We started talking about that a little bit last time.

In fact, really where we where we sort of parked.

Was on what does this mean being filled with a knowledge of his will and we talked about his will?

Mostly we did he had there are two kinds of God's will talked about in the Bible not three by the way.

There's an additional one that they'll talk about seminaries and certain places and books.

You might read where they call it the permissive will that is not one of them.

But the two wills of God are his revealed will with it, which is his word.

The things he says we're supposed to do and there are imperatives all through the New Testament.

I know we don't we're not saved by law or we say by grace.

But there are imperatives all through the New Testament, which is where the Lord says.

Okay, now that you do belong to me live like this treat each other like this.

Those are called imperatives.

It means it's like a command God says now that you're mine.

Here's how my family lives.

You're my child.

Here's how my kids live and it's all through the New Testament.

So we have all the all of these imperatives that we have to pay attention to and.

So.

His prayer for them is that they learn more and more about the revealed

will of God that they get in the Bible and read and study together.

And part of what the New Testament Church did was They broke the bread and they broke the bread of

the Bible together as well.

They studied the Bible and prayed together.

So You have that.

Now.

Not only did he pray for them to be filled with a knowledge of God's will which how you gonna know his will if you're not In his

word, right, but then there's the second will of God which is his secret will which we talked about last last time.

You have to you can kind of go through about four points of knowing what you think God wants you to do

in the fifth point is you step into you just step towards it.

That's the only way you can find it.

You have to take steps and move into it and we talked about that last time so then this verse moves

on and says that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and Spiritual understanding.

Let's talk about what this word for wisdom means because sometimes the English word You know, it's

correct, but it doesn't give the depth or the colors of meaning that the original language would give

so here this word this particular word for wisdom in Greek is Sophia and

If you if you look in a big Greek dictionary I like the big thick ones because I like to go back and study the

origins of words.

But this particular word the most ancient meaning among the Greek philosophers.

Actually didn't.

I'm gonna read it and I'm gonna explain kind of guess wrap our mind around a little bit.

What it means is to it denotes a materially a materially Complete and hence

unusual knowledge and ability.

Okay, so like a complete and unusually complete

knowledge of a certain thing and that's what wisdom is.

So so it's as if you had you know I like to listen to brother Myron's things on business a lot and one of the things he

talks about is the only way that You create wealth is through mastery.

So you not only just know about something you master it like, you know You know everything there is to know about how to do that thing

and.

And he's right about that.

Well that mastery of something is what this Greek word for wisdom means that makes sense.

It's like to it's well, that's the most ancient original meaning of it is to like when you

master or you have materially complete and

Unusual knowledge of something that's what this word means now when it says materially.

Obviously that's talking about physical stuff like maybe skill sets in a certain kind of business like we teach stock trading.

So all the skill sets on how to trade stocks.

Well, you're wise in that particular thing.

If you have mastered those skill sets not just know them or kind of know about them.

But you you can do them without even thinking about it.

Takes a while to get there doesn't it brother today a little while to get where you can do without him thinking about it.

That's what it means.

So the original meaning had to do with that now what happened as time went by however

in the Greek It began to Kind of morph into a little

deeper meaning than just knowledge of how to do a physical thing.

Meaning that all of a sudden now you have wisdom it kind of morphed a little bit into a deeper meaning.

So during the classical Greek period The range of meaning was strongly restricted to

theoretical and intellectual knowledge of maybe physical things but finally

in the usage of the philosophic schools later on in Greek it began to

add an element of More spiritual.

Inner -man.

Side.

So not only you know, not only knowledge of how to do things.

But wisdom this Greek word for wisdom began to take on the meaning of you you have something

That comes with just having a deep knowledge of God.

The more, you know God the wiser you are now.

We understand.

God gives us wisdom books like the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament like the book of James in the New Testament.

We understand that but all of the scripture as we read it we gain wisdom.

So the Greek word and the biblical word carries that meaning as.

Well, so it is mastery, but it's also walking with the Lord and Ben talked about that a lot in

his Sunday school lesson today about how Experience and by that meaning you're already saved and you're in the word.

But now you're walking through life with this Bible seeing the things that you

Philosophically believe were true because the Bible said so all of a sudden it slams into you in life and it works.

Right, it slams into you and it gets you through that thing and you go.

Wow.

Now I understand it a whole lot with more depth and a lot more levels of understanding because of the

experience in my life.

It shows that principle that God taught me actually works.

Which we should we kind of believed it did beforehand because God said it and he made the universe so we figured it worked.

But now we know it works.

So understanding comes as we take knowledge, which is actually just little bits of data

truths.

Knowledge's bits of truths that we know and we put them together into something that coalesces into something we can actually

use.

It's useful in life to make us successful in many areas and that becomes

Understanding.

So notice though that he didn't just say understanding in verse 9.

What did he say?

He said spiritual understanding so it adds it adds even a deeper element here and

The Greek word for spiritual literally means.

Non.

Carnal, so the Greek uses an opposite here to teach us what spiritual means.

It just it's it's the opposite of being carnal it's the opposite of being fleshly and.

So that's actually what this word is.

So You have to be supernaturally regenerated and born again

to be spiritual.

So Paul would not say this to a crowd In Greece like when he spoke there

but when he's speaking to a church of people that are born again, then he uses this word and says that he

prays that they Will have spiritual understanding which is not just understanding of how stuff works but it's a

deeper knowledge of God added with that and then now all of a sudden you have the ability to.

Really.

See things as they are as God made them and how God intended them to be.

And it becomes more and more that way in Your life in my life.

And this is Paul's prayer.

So then why do we need to have this knowledge of his will in this wisdom in the spiritual?

Understanding.

Well verse 10 tells us.

So look at verse 10.

Here's the why?

That you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing Being fruitful in every

good work and increasing in the knowledge of God so it's almost like a

Cycle here.

It's a it's a beneficial cycle where He prays for you to have knowledge and wisdom, right?

And then he says but as you walk through this life My prayer is that as you walk through this life

because of that knowledge of God's Word and of God You will walk worthy of the Lord.

In other words, your testimony will be kind of fit who you are.

You won't be a hypocrite you like you're saved on the inside.

So you actually walk like you're saved on the outside and people see that and it's a testimony.

But as you're walking and in a way that pleases the Lord then he also

prays that you'd be fruitful in every good work and Here's the here's the cycle part and increasing

in the knowledge of God.

So now you're getting more knowledge of God.

So that now you can walk in a more pleasing way in a more powerful way in a better Testimony and it just keeps

cycling your whole life as long as you stay in the word and walking with the Lord.

It's a wonderful beneficial cycle that it goes through.

It's interesting that it says where he says increasing in the knowledge of God this Greek word

Literally means to enlarge so you're being enlarged as it as a person.

You're you're you're a bigger person.

Your understanding is bigger.

Your wisdom is better because you're walking with the Lord in a way that's pleasing to him and this cycle is

happening and by walking With him now you have more knowledge of him and you walk with him more and you have

more knowledge of him and you're studying the word more and you have more knowledge of him and it just keeps growing and

You are enlarged by it.

So so that's pretty cool.

Now when it talks about that you're increasing in knowledge of God here at the end of verse 10 this word

knowledge is interesting because It's almost like Charlotte I laugh about the

fact that God made her a really good navigator and Made me a really bad one.

I won't blame that on him.

He made her a good navigator and I am a bad one.

You see that's where I believe in free will on the bad stuff you know, that's That's the free will

part is when you mess up.

That's not God.

That's you messing up.

Well, that's me when I'm driving.

Okay, so like we come home from if we come home from Colorado ski trip.

Which we quit doing that after I tore my ACL a few years ago, but we used to do it a lot.

I like to I'd get pretty close to home and being in the middle of night and say, you know what?

I'm just gonna go home.

I'm not gonna stop at a hotel.

How many of you do that when you're driving?

It's gonna keep driving through the night.

So everybody's asleep and I pull into Bill and station that's on

the right, you know Stay awake I Get that

everybody's still asleep.

I get back in the car I'll pull out and go left and drive for about an hour and I start seeing stuff I've already seen

and I'm going man.

I was gonna get home by like 2 now.

I'm gonna get home at 4.

So I.

Quietly turn the car around.

Drive on home and never tell them until today actually I've told the story before but I mean that that's me like that's

that's my Navigational skills, but you know, what's lovely about that.

I saw some landmarks that I had already seen.

Well, so landmarks are helpful for those of us that drive like that I mean she can actually even before we had a

smartphone.

She could just know which way to go.

I don't get it I don't know how she does that.

But anyway, so This word This word for it right at the end of

verse 10 where it says increasing in knowledge of God the interesting about it is that that word

is a Landmark word.

So think about it.

It means to know upon some mark.

Like a landmark.

So when you like when you see something it helps you know where you are.

That's the underlying connotation of this interesting Greek word.

It means to recognize like you like you recognize.

Well, I've seen this stuff before I'm going the wrong way.

And it turns you back the right way if you're me, right?

It's like that so it means to recognize to be increasing in your recognition of

God of who he really is and Knowing him better and and listen, you got a long

way to go if you grew up in America in the last 20 years.

Even 30 years because what the church teaches about God is a different

God than the God of the Bible.

The way, you know, that is you read about the God in the Bible and then you go listen to the sermons out there.

It's a different God.

It's idolatrous.

The Apostle Paul said there are other spirits and other Jesus's in other

Gospels and he said but no other real ones, but people invent them.

So their figments of their imagination is who they are worshiping and that's really sad.

So what brings you to knowing the truth are the landmarks and the landmarks are in this book right here.

When you read about what God says about himself.

Who he says he is and the works that he says he does and you have to match everything with that.

Even when it does not match what's being preached in churches today, and I don't mean all churches there's some good churches, but

but man, there are Predominant numbers of churches that reach the biggest number of people because

they're the mega churches are not even preaching the Bible anymore.

It's a whole different God.

It's it's a God that they say loves everybody.

Well, the God of the Bible does not love everybody.

He very clearly says he hates the workers of iniquity not the sin, but the worker of it.

That's the person I mean you listen.

There are so many things you've heard about God that don't match the scripture that when you start reading the Bible, it's confusing.

You have to totally change your idea of God like the world today.

It teaches a God who just flung everything to existence and then just sits there and watches to see what happens.

So when something bad happens to you, he says hmm.

Something bad happens one of your kids.

He just goes.

Hmm.

That's the God of the new church the modern church but the God of the Bible is The one named

Jesus Christ who the Bible says everything was made by him and for him and of him all things

Consist and that Greek word means he holds it all together.

He is he is always Involved in every little detail of your life.

Every little detail the look when you get enough in the word and enough close to the Lord where you start noticing that he cares.

About the little stuff in your life.

You just kind of smile when he does something like that.

You see it and you go.

Wow.

He actually cared about that.

So I'm not gonna worry about the big things right because he cared about that little thing.

He just did for me.

I know you've experienced that if you hadn't when you do it's gonna bring you a lot of joy so

this word for Knowledge of God means like a landmark that when you see it, it

gives you a recognition.

Oh, that's the true God.

That's how God is.

That's who God is.

So it's it really means being fully acquainted and fully acknowledging

Who God is and that was Paul's prayer for this church?

That's a pretty good prayer because a lot of the joy in our life comes from when we're in the word enough and

We steer away from what the world is saying.

The word says and forget about listen.

I'll tell you what as an adult Christian.

You've got to lay aside everything that your denomination taught you growing up.

That's not in the Bible.

You got to lay it aside.

You did listen.

You ain't married to it.

Just lay it aside.

It's not true then lay it aside.

Keep the good stuff your denomination taught you but lay aside the stuff that's wrong and don't you just not like you

got a brag.

Oh, well, I found you're wrong here.

Don't do that.

But just know in your heart that that this book here is the the only authority and it's above everything

that the church teaches you.

And you do need to learn the proper rules of Bible interpretation.

There's ten of them at least depends on how you organize them.

You can't cheat if you cheat you'll get it wrong.

But if you don't cheat it's like math you'll get it, right and there's only maybe I don't know a

very small handful of passages that we would call a difficult passage where It actually takes

someone who studies professionally maybe to figure it out because they have the time to do it.

You know and the will to do it because they're called to preach or whatever.

But there's maybe I'm talking about a handful.

Everything else is written for the rancher or the farmer or the schoolchild to understand.

That's how God writes most of the Bible.

It's simple.

You just read it plainly like it plainly is written when it's allegorical.

It will let you know it is you don't have to pretend like something is when it's not all that good stuff.

So so now we have this growing ability to know the true God.

Because of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit and we're growing and increasing in the knowledge and

understanding and recognition of an Acknowledgement of the sovereignty of God.

I mean listen.

Most churches today think God like I said is like this.

But he's actually involved in every little detail and that's what we mean when we say we believe in the sovereignty of God that

man Is not in control God is.

But most churches teach that man is and sometimes it's so.

But it's really bad and it need you know, it needs to be corrected.

And it's it's a very very bad movement in the end times church.

But the Bible taught that the church at the end of the age would be lukewarm and that's

kind of where we are.

In American churches, especially now look at verse 11 Strengthened the prayer is

that you might be strengthened with all might according to his Glorious

power unto all patience and long -suffering in joyfulness.

Once you see that God is in control and not man, you will see this in almost every verse.

You'll definitely see it on every page look carefully, you know.

You don't even have to look carefully once you see it.

But if you if you're not used to seeing it you have to look carefully.

But look at this he's praying that these Christians would be strengthened with

all might.

Now that's spiritual power.

Spiritual power over the world the flesh and the devil all of our enemies.

Spiritual power everything pushing against you as a Christian in this world.

He's praying that you would have Be strengthened in this spiritual power, but he doesn't

just stop there so many times when people talking about it I'll just say that, you know, I'm just just want we want to be strong in

the Lord.

But look what he says in the context it says according to God's glorious power.

It's not according to our strength.

It's according to the sovereign God of the universe who birthed you into his family when

he wanted to and Because he wanted to on the day that he wanted to and then made you come alive.

And gave you about 33 things you didn't have a second before that happened and now you have them including his presence.

Living the Holy Spirit and dwelling your body that has to make you a little bit different.

Don't you think a lot different and so this?

Glorious power of God that lives in you.

That's what you're growing in strength is according to it's not physical carnal strength.

I mean you need to grow because you need to be physically strong if you can.

Because we have a lot to do good works to do but it's talking about this spiritual

Inner strength that comes from the glorious power of God in us who is the hope of glory?

You see people leave that out in churches today.

How many churches I mean mega churches with you know.

Ten twenty thousand people sitting in there today maybe thirty thousand people sitting in there today and a preacher gets up there and gives a 15

-minute sermon at and Everything that he talks about is how good you are and how much God loves you.

And make you feel air stuff to make you feel good and it's made it's designed to strengthen you in the flesh.

I Heard my dear mentor.

Dr. Freeman.

He's in heaven now, but he talks to Charlotte a lot because she listens to all of the sermons.

It's been put on our website of my mentors.

So every sermon he ever preached we have it.

It's on the Park Meadows church comm website.

She listened to him quite often in the morning and this Jewish Believer preacher

with four PhDs is just remarkable and he was on something.

He was on something this morning or yesterday morning.

I think it was what was it?

He was talking about.

Oh Yeah attitude walking attitude.

He two of his degrees were in psychology and Christian counseling.

The other two were in in Theology, but he's talking about attitude but when you talk

about God's glorious power is the thing that gives you the strength.

That's totally different than what mega preachers are talking about right now across America.

They are just trying to say words that will strengthen you.

Sometimes.

It's a poem.

Sometimes.

It's a song Sometimes it's a really wonderful.

Story.

I'm not against stories.

Stories are good.

If you start with a story, especially if you're God like Jesus Jesus can tell some really good stories.

And he did it quite often, but but they also had spiritual impact and spiritual truth behind them.

The stories that are told today are just feel good stories.

That is not the strength Paul's talking about.

He's talking about that.

You would be strengthened with all might according to God's glorious power.

What kind of might is that.

That's different than the might in this arm, right?

It's a whole different thing than what the modern church is even thinking about.

And he goes on and says unto all patience and long -suffering with joyfulness.

All right.

So giving thanks unto the Father which has made us fit.

The word meat is an old English word means he's made us fit to be partakers.

I want you to notice something.

It doesn't say that we make ourselves fit.

It doesn't say that by doing good works with God loves us more than the one that's not doing it.

It doesn't say that it says he makes us fit.

And it's in the passive in Greek.

Which means someone bigger than you did it to you.

This is what we mean by the sovereignty of God.

God is in control.

He is driving everything.

He is working together with us.

It is God invented the first family business.

Okay.

So if you're lucky enough to grow up in a family business Then God started the first one and so yeah, he can

he can part the Red Sea but notice that he did have Moses holding up the rod of God when he did it and

Praying when he did it so he chose not to do it by himself.

He did it with Moses.

Why God loves to work with his children?

So when he begins to work with you and with me in our lives It causes

all of these things to be taking place.

So we have more patience.

We have more long -suffering more joyfulness more thankfulness in verse 12.

Which has made us and then God himself Makes us fit to be partakers of the

inheritance with the Saints in life.

So you already if you're saved you're already a partaker of the inheritance.

Now he makes you fit to have it.

You know what?

That means it made means your life gets more and more in line with who you really are on the inside.

I mean, you're a child of the king, but we don't always live like one doing.

Well this power that God's talking about in verses 11 and 12 is God's power in you

and in me.

Making us to have enough strength spiritually to walk better.

So that our walk matches who he has already made us to be on the inside children of the king.

We should walk like it.

That's what we are.

We should talk like it dress like it.

And.

And.

Just be that and that's that's what the Lord wants us to be.

And by the way the Holy Spirit can tell you how to dress.

He can tell you tell you what music to listen to.

He doesn't speak with an audible voice, but I'll tell you what if you listen to something wrong.

You can make you feel bad about it.

Or if you go in the wrong place.

They can make you feel bad about it or if you wear the wrong thing.

You can make you feel bad about it and he can guide you into doing it, right?

You don't have to have a preacher tell you how to dress or where to go and all this stuff.

You got a Bible and you got the Holy Spirit the water and the Spirit.

And so all of this is talking about the result that that has on you that God himself his presence in your

life has these results.

And he makes us to be fit to be partakers of the very inheritance that we have.

Now if we just look At the things that have mentioned so far I'm not going to

go into verse 13 till next week.

But let's just stop there and look at the things that we've mentioned so far.

There's quite a few of first of all, he prayed that we would walk worthy of the Lord.

Okay, so that's like not being hypocritical that how we are on the inside which is saved.

Our walk is like that more and more more predominantly been talked about sanctification and Sunday school.

That's what that's talking about secondly that we would please the Lord.

Now that's that's a whole thing.

You know, you could just stop and talk about just what that means to please the Lord.

But.

It's an interesting study to think about God himself being pleased or displeased.

Do when you think of God?

Do you think of an emotional being or an intellectual being or a being who doesn't have to learn anything because he knows everything.

How do you think of God will always think of God as?

Three distinct persons but one God he's the father the son and the Holy Spirit and while I do

not believe that the father Often responds to us and gets all emotional.

I know Jesus does and I know the Holy Spirit does the Bible says I can grieve the Holy Spirit.

All I have to do is cause division in the church and that's the thing that grieves him.

All I have to do is be unkind to a brother or sister and it grieves the Holy Spirit.

I can quench the Holy Spirit.

What does that mean?

I can hurt his feelings so to speak so much that he moves away from me a little bit.

I know he lives in me but like as far as in me, I'm here and he's here.

He can move over here back here he can move away from me because.

Emotionally something I did or said just it turned him off quite frankly and then Jesus.

Listen, he gets emotional.

Bible says Jesus wept.

So, yeah, God can get emotional now rather the father does who we don't need to debate that he's outside of time.

I mean, he's he's not in time.

You can't change him.

He can't learn anything.

He doesn't have a brain.

Six nine seven, whatever.

I thought Otis was never gonna stop laughing today.

You said that but it was so good can or

What can God learn or something said something like that and you said no why he can't think

and brother Otis said Why can't he think he doesn't have a brain?

It just got better and better.

She was about seven or eight.

Anyway, it's true.

That's how the father is.

So but yet when you look at this it says you can walk in a way that will please the Lord.

Does that not imply that you can walk in a way that doesn't please him and When you want to talk about

which part of God that's talking about it's the Holy Spirit who lives in you.

He's in time and space with you.

He can be he can be moved by what you do.

He can be moved by what you say in a positive way.

He can be moved by what you say in a negative way.

He can move or talk towards you more away from you.

More toward your kids or away from them or your spouse or away from depending on what you do.

Sometimes the things you do can affect your kids.

The things they do can affect you, right?

Because it may or may not please the Lord.

So Wow, you're gonna have a long discussion on walking in such a way that pleases the Lord there in verse

10.

Second part of verse 10 and then it says that we should be fruitful in every good work.

So as we walk with the Lord it bears we bear fruit.

Fruit means success we become a successful human being based on what God's designed for a human was and.

Then the next fourth thing it says we're increasing or growing or being enlarged.

By the knowledge of God that we're gaining.

We're knowing him more and more every day as we live in this life.

And then then we next thing we see is we're strengthened in might.

But it's God's might and this Greek word is dunamis, which is an underlying power.

It's kind of a physics word.

It's if you study physics you study what power means and how to.

You know have formulas to derive what power is and all that it comes from a Greek word it means that

so we're strengthened in might by God's power and.

Then the sixth thing is according it says according to his mighty power and that word for power is even different than dunamis.

It's Kratos and it's kind of interesting, but

it just simply means Bigger in the word bigger in English kind of comes from the word

life being alive.

And so we're strengthened by God's life.

I mean, do you ever just sit around and think about stuff?

Like do you ever just think about that?

You're made out of dirt from the earth and a hundred years from now.

You'll be dirt unless the Lord comes back and takes us on, you know before that you just be dirt, right?

That's that's all you'll be as far as your physical body and the physical body is the you that you see in the mirror.

That's who you think you are unless you study that word a lot and then you know, you're your spirit.

It lives in that body, but you think about the fact that if Jesus Who created your

body and the world you live in with all the air you need the water?

You need the exotic medicals of metals if you want to build a rocket and fuel that you make the

rocket.

Go from earth to space in 40 seconds.

All that stuff's in the earth.

It was already there before we ever figured out how to make a rocket.

I mean, I just think it's stuff that I know about so now you bring all that back and you say, okay.

What is it that makes my heart beat?

What is it that makes it beat even when I'm asleep?

What kind of energy?

Energizes this body that will someday if the Lord doesn't rapture me.

Eventually, I'm just going to just my life's going to be gone.

It's just going to be a body and all of that life will be gone.

But God put it in me and kept it there for a long number of years already 69 years that's a long time every

day.

Every heartbeat every bit of energy that it takes to make this brain have electricity in it.

That puts a spark in that heart just at the right time to make it beat.

None of that is human.

None of that is something man Controls and yet man wants to be in control of everything.

He's not in control of anything.

All he can do is sit right here and do what this passage we're looking at this morning.

And that is to give him glory because it's his mighty power that drives us be thankful.

Be patient.

That's me preaching to me up the other part.

I can do pretty good.

I'm really thankful Lord if I'm real real thankful, can I be less patient?

Maybe he'll answer me later through my wife probably but anyway.

So like like all of this comes from him his mighty power.

Except when I'm not patient and that's my free will.

It's all in the Bible.

It's got both in there all right, so.

There we have that and and then he says unto patience.

Which is interesting because the Greek word for patient you you might think where it says patient and it says long -suffering that that's

the same.

In Greek, it's not really the same.

Because patient literally comes from two little Greek words.

Don't laugh at me Charlotte.

You don't want you going in the nursery.

It means cheerful endurance.

Why are you laughing at me Katie Dave?

Glenda.

Wow, too many people know me.

Kenner stop it.

Okay, you guys are doing pretty good because you don't know me very well yet so you think I'm patient but anyway.

Cheerful endurance love it.

Just remember though, it's God's mighty power that will make me have that not my own abilities.

Now you're thinking why aren't you walking with the Lord more than whatever, okay I better quit.

Preaching about myself is getting embarrassing.

All right, the next one long -suffering.

Now that one.

Instead of cheerful endurance.

It means forbearance or fortitude.

Do you know what that means?

Sam think about this if you ever thought about.

Not that I want you to ever do it because I'm not sure we have anything worth fighting for anymore.

But if maybe we still do I don't know it's debatable.

But what if you decide to go in the Marines?

All right, so you go in there and you're gonna have this thing called a drill sergeant, you know what he does.

He screams at you and all kinds of bad languages.

To make you try to get mad at him because if you do and you swing at him, he gonna knock you flat.

And make you get up and run 10 miles and come back and then you know, it's just gonna just you to think it's horrible

why do they put you through what they call basic training like that and if you're gonna be a Special services

special forces, it's gonna they're practically gonna drown you in the ocean and finally you get out and you

become a good warrior because what they're building in that soldier is Fortitude and forbearance and what does that mean?

It means you don't have nothing in you that will quit.

Because the only way you can lose a fight is if you quit first, is that true Dave?

Karate, man, anybody else know karate.

I I know the language but my dad knew it and you know it

like you you can't lose a fight until you quit.

So if you have fortitude and forbearance, the other guy may be bigger.

He may be stronger, but he ain't gonna beat you.

So so think about that spiritually.

What what if you walk with the Lord enough?

Where you have what the Bible calls long suffering which means the world in the flesh and the devil can beat up on

you and beat.

And even other Christians can treat you mean if you know if they really are.

Kind of missing one of the symptoms of Christianity, which is kindness.

But anyway, if they could beat up on you, you know.

Can you get through that?

Well long as you don't quit.

Well, that's what this fruit of the Spirit is long suffering is fortitude you just keep on keeping on

in the night thing was joyfulness and.

It's interesting because that comes from a Greek word which means calm.

Delight in that a neat word calm delight.

What could I get on a just a really quick rabbit trail on that one.

Okay, so.

I.

Got a lot of buddies that are praying for me to get The second blessing and to

get to get more of the Holy Spirit and more of God because I can't speak in tongues.

I Can't faith heal.

I can't raise people from the dead.

I don't see myself as an apostle because I never have seen Jesus physically on the earth.

Which is one of the qualifications of an apostle that the Bible lists.

I just can't do that stuff and.

Really.

If the Lord came down on this room, which he did a little bit today, but I mean if he came down here heavy.

Some of you guys be up dancing in the in the up and down the aisle.

Some of you young men go outside door run around come in the other door.

I've actually seen this happen in a Baptist Church not charismatic Baptist where it was just God the presence of God was so heavy.

And y 'all would be doing that but I would just be right there kneeling there and just praying and enjoying it.

I'm not gonna be jumping up and down like a rabbit.

Right.

So so you might say well.

But so you don't really have it.

You don't have that Holy Spirit joy, but the real word for joy here is calm.

Delight.

So that's what I call a Baptist word.

I'm not Baptist anymore.

But you know.

It's a joke like I've joked all over the country because we speak in rooms that have like ten different denominations

in there if there are ten it's Got all kinds of different denominations and now I know what they each believe because I've studied

church history a lot.

So I'll make little funny jokes that make them laugh even though they believe different than me.

It's just kind of fun.

And one of them is I'll say oh, yeah.

You know, I we get really excited, but it's all on the inside.

You know if you're if you grew up Baptist and they always laugh.

But isn't it funny that this word for joyfulness means calm delight?

Because did you know that self -control is also one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit?

So if you get out of control, you're not spirit -filled.

You're your carnal and that's what it was.

Charlotte.

I was trying to think about what Rocky was talking about.

Rocky also in that same talk Dr. Freeman was talking about the difference between the soul and the

spirit and how so many Christians can be soulish and They think they're spiritual but the soul

can go either way.

It connects your spirit to your body.

It's a connector and So it can be carnal or it can connect to the spiritual side.

The soul has to be led by your spirit, but your soul can make you think you're being spiritual when you're really being

carnal.

And so if you lack self -control, it's a sign that you don't have the Holy Spirit operating.

You've got your your emotions and your flesh operating.

Isn't that funny?

I just thought I'd throw that out.

It's just a rabbit trail.

Those are always free.

And then the tenth thing that I see it says be thankful and the eleventh thing is that God makes us fit.

To walk with him and the twelfth thing that I see is he it says he makes us to be Saints.

Wow.

Isn't that an interesting word?

He makes us to be Saints in light now.

What about that.

You want to hear I'm done here, but I want you to.

I want you to think about this.

Do you know what the Greek word in the Bible is for Saint?

It's not like the Catholics think.

You know like Saint this and Saint that in the Bible anyone is born again as a saint, you know that right?

Anyone that's born again to Saint it means a saved person.

But do you want to know what the underlying root meaning of the word Saint is?

It is forgive me if I don't say it right because When I write I write

too small.

My typing is big enough where I can see without my glasses, but my handwriting is not but I think it's high gay -ass.

And it literally means an awful thing.

Now don't laugh because you think is that the modern meaning for awful like we're just sorry we're just awful.

We are awful Saints.

It might mean that nowadays in the end times Church.

But that's not really what it means because many times in the English Bible It calls God awful

and what that means is awe -inspiring awesome.

Powerful so so powerful and awesome that he's frightening.

That you would bow down if he entered this room Jesus in his glorified state you would fall right on your face.

So what I we all would immediately because he's awful that that's what that old English word used to mean

so this Greek word For Saint means an awesome

awe -inspiring awful thing.

Now what you think about that?

Is that you?

Like you walk down the street do people think well I don't want to live like that person, but if I get in trouble I'm gonna go to that person

for help because that's what it means like I Don't want to.

I don't think I want to go to church with him, but man man if something bad happens I'm gonna see if that dude can do my

funeral.

You know, I'll tell my friends call him and do the few I've done funerals to people.

I don't even know because somebody told The family get David.

Well, how about you?

When you walk down the street do they think man, yeah, they're awesome.

I'm kind of scared of them.

I don't want to be like that, but they're different.

That's what it means.

The word Saint means that so the way that you get that way is to study the passage.

We just read this morning All the way down through verse 12 and look at

those items that the Bible says God is working into your life.

The more you walk with him and it's a cycle you have to know him and then he starts doing this but then when he starts

doing this you walk with him and then that makes you knowing better and it's a cycle and all the Sudden you get to the place in your life

where you're an awful Thing.

All right, so that's where that's where we want to be.

That's what we want to be.

And we got it.

We've got to be that because we are the only light in salt this world has right now other than the Holy

Spirit I can't see him.

They can see you and me.

Let's stand and have prayer together.

Father we thank you for your word.

We thank you that it is so deep and rich and so many colors of meaning that every time we teach through

it verse by verse we learn it's a whole new sermon and I've seen that for 40 years in my life

and Lord no one would ever convince me.

This is not a God breathed book because I know this book they don't know it yet.

They never convinced me in a million years because I've seen it and I've seen it again this week and

this morning.

So thank you for that.

Thank you That your Holy Spirit helps us to understand it as we study it and thank you for the

fellowship We have together and bless the meal.

We're about to have in Jesus name.

Amen.

All right, you are dismissed.

We'll see you in a few moments.

Oh.

Good.

Yeah.

That's actually what the old English word means and Satan.

I think Satan has changed the meaning of it to mean, you know, he's made it to mean terrible.

But even the word terrible is used of God in the Bible.

He's a terrible God, but both of those words mean all inspiring.

Now the words mean bad, you know.

Yeah.

Yes.