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The Bible tells us in Acts 17 -26 that God has determined the times and places in which every person would live. God has chosen you for the time and place that you are in to seek His glory and proclaim His gospel when we understand the text.
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Here's our host, Pastor Gate. Thank you, Becky.
We are in Colossians 1, verses 24 -29. Again, today, if you want to open up your Bible and join with me there. Yes, my voice is getting a little bit better every day. I haven't been able to work ahead on episodes this week because it's been kind of a day-to-day thing.
I just kind of take what I can get out of my voice. But I am getting better. If you've stuck with me this week, you've noticed the gradual progression. And I thank you for listening because I probably haven't been all that great to listen to.
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Go to our website, www .utt .com to subscribe. Colossians chapter one, starting in verse 24 before coming to the text. Why don't we go to the Lord in prayer? Our wonderful God, thank you for the joy that we have in worshiping you and knowing how to worship you and become better worshipers of God because of what we have written down for us in your word.
Give us a zeal for your word. We desire to come to it. And we have that desire because you have placed it in our hearts to hunger and thirst for God, to store up your word, to become better worshipers of God by knowing more and more the identity of who we are in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
And it is in his name that we pray. Amen. The apostle Paul writes, beginning in Colossians 1 24. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake and in my flesh. I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body.
That is the church of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you to make the word of God fully known the mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now revealed to his saints to them.
God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory him. We proclaim warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ for this.
I toil struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. Verse 24. Paul says, I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake and in my flesh. I am filling up. Okay. We mentioned yesterday what Paul was referring to rejoicing in his sufferings as we need to rejoice in our sufferings, the place that we're in and the things that we suffer through.
We are enduring the sufferings that Christ went through. So we are sharing in his sufferings and where we are, where we have been placed is ultimately for God's glory. We do what we do, uh, proclaiming the gospel and suffering persecution from that, or even struggling with the inner toy or inner turmoil and the, the outer strife that we might experience.
We go through these things to the glory of God so that we might grow in the fruitfulness of the spirit and also be able to proclaim his gospel to the loss through whatever trials that we must endure and go through.
So suffering and persecution, suffering in the inner and external turmoils that all of us face in our various walks of life, but still proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, no matter what we might undergo while we are walking on this earth.
So Paul rejoicing in his sufferings for the sake of the faith of God's elect, as he says in Titus one, one, and in my flesh, I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. Now, as we talked about yesterday, this does not mean that, uh, that there was something, uh, that Christ did not fulfill on the cross.
And so now Paul is fulfilling by his ministry. No, when Jesus died on the cross, he said it is finished. The work was completed and it was done. But Jesus said to his disciples in John 14, 12, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do and greater works than these will he do because I am going to the father.
Now, oftentimes we twist that verse to say that, well, we're going to do greater miracles than Jesus did. But no, that's not what he was talking about. The apostles themselves did not do greater miracles than Jesus did.
We don't see them performing greater things in the book of acts than Jesus did dying on the cross and coming back from the grave. Nobody is going to do anything greater than that. Okay. So what he was referring to though, when he was saying this to his disciples is that they would go out and spread the gospel in even further places, doing more ministry than they had done with Jesus while Jesus was here.
Because he said, he says this in John 14. And then again, in John 16, that he is going to the father and he's going to send them the helper, the Holy spirit who will be within them as they go and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and all the reaches of the earth.
And even in the first day that the gospel was being proclaimed, when you see Peter proclaiming the gospel in Jerusalem at Pentecost in Acts chapter two, it says that 3000 souls were added to their numbers that day.
That was more people added to the church in one day than was ever added during the three years of Jesus earthly ministry with his disciples. Now, there were times when you read in the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and there are times when you will see that hundreds and even thousands of people are following Jesus around, but they, that doesn't mean that they were followers of Jesus.
They did not truly believe in him as the son of God. They just wanted to hear what he was going to say next, or they wanted him to heal their sick but did not necessarily proclaim as the son of God. Remember when the rich young ruler came to Jesus and said, good teacher.
And Jesus responded to him by saying, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. In other words, Jesus is calling out this man's heart and saying, you call me good, but you don't actually believe in me as God.
And there were other occasions, like when you read in the sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter five, it says that there were crowds of people that came to listen to him in the sermon on the Mount, but he sat and taught his disciples and the word disciples simply means a learner.
So he was teaching those who were there to learn, even though there were hundreds, if not thousands that came out to listen to him speak. So there were many people that follow Jesus, but they weren't followers of Jesus.
The church had never had the kind of success that it did until that first day of Pentecost with the Holy spirit upon the apostles who went out into Jerusalem, preaching the gospel. 3000 people added to their numbers that day at the most before that, at the most, you would be able to say that Jesus had 120 genuine followers because that's how many people were in the upper room.
When the Holy spirit came upon the apostles, there were 120 people gathered there. So that was really like the first gathering of, of Christ church. And then they go out and proclaim the gospel and then boom, uh, it, it grows exponentially with 3000 people that then go into their, uh, into the far reaches of the earth, back to their own homes, the various areas of the Roman empire and started churches as they proclaim the gospel and more and more came to know Christ.
So this is the greater work that Jesus was talking about. And Paul says that as he goes through his sufferings and that he's filling up what is lacking in Christ afflictions for the sake of his body, that is the church.
He's talking about how, uh, what had not yet been done in this sovereign work of God was that the gospel would be proclaimed by the apostles into all the world. And so that's the work that Paul says that he is accomplishing of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you to make the word of God fully known.
Now Christ chose the apostles. He said to his disciples, you did not choose me, but I chose you that you may go and bear fruit. Uh, we read in Galatians one 15 that God chose Paul before he was even born from the foundations of the world, that he would do this work, uh, that God was calling him to do in advancing the gospel.
And sometimes we might read passages like that and say, well, that's great because God called the apostles to do that. He called the disciples to do that, but he has not chosen me for this faith. I chose this faith.
I'm the one that chose to believe. No, the apostles and the prophets in, in God choosing them for that work, it's no different than God having chosen you to believe in that faith and to also go out and proclaim it to others that they might repent and believe.
Paul said to the Thessalonians first Thessalonians chapter one, verse four, for we know brothers loved by God that he has chosen you. Boom. There you go. Brothers loved by God. You are brothers in this faith.
God has chosen you because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction, you know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake and you became imitators of us and of the Lord for you received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.
So just like Paul has said to the Colossians that he suffers and, and goes through the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body. So Paul has said to the Thessalonians, a church, a body of believers, God chose you and that you received the word in much affliction.
So this is not just a calling of apostles. This is not just a calling that is placed upon evangelists or pastors or teachers. This is a calling that has been placed upon the whole church that we would all share in Christ's afflictions and advance the gospel.
The church is the instrument that God has chosen to use to accomplish his divine plan. And if you are a Christian, you are now a participant in that divine plan. In first Timothy chapter three, we read that the church is the instrument that God has chosen to be a pillar and a buttress of the truth.
We hold up the truth, the pillar, okay? We hold it up. We proclaim it like on a billboard so that people see it, people hear it, and we proclaim it to the world. And then we're also a buttress, a defense.
We call out false teaching and preach with right doctrine, with sound teaching that people would know the true words of Jesus Christ. We are the instruments that God has chosen to use in this great plan of his to bring about the full number of the saints God's elect.
We are all chosen. None of us can ever say that we chose. The only way you were able to repent and believe in the message of Jesus Christ is because of the power of the work of the Holy Spirit within you.
See, later on in verse 29, back in Colossians one now, later on in verse 29, the apostle Paul says, this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. So Paul at no point in this is taking credit for himself.
Even my ability to endure for the cause of Christ is because of his energy that he powerfully works within me. If you were with us through the Philippians study, remember in Philippians how it says, well, I mean, you know this verse, it's a famous verse where Paul says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
The strength that he has comes not from himself. It comes from God. His ability to endure, whether times are good, being steadfast in the faith or whether times are bad, when things get really hard to believe, his ability to endure and remain steadfast in the faith is because of the power of Christ working within him.
So let me apply this to you a little bit here. Let us come to an understanding of how we share in these afflictions for the cause of the gospel. You may be in a kind of a situation, I'm going to bring up something that happens very commonly even within my own church.
We're a very military oriented church. About 60 of our congregation is in the military because of our proximity to Fort Riley. In fact, we're so close to Fort Riley that it's basically considered a part of Junction City, the city in which our church is located here.
So many of our congregants either active in the military or they're retired military. We'll have this situation come up where perhaps a couple got married young, very common story in the military. A soldier is deployed and he goes overseas.
And while that wife is at home, she finds faith. Somebody has invited her to church and while she is thinking about her husband and praying for him, she comes to saving faith in Christ and becomes a Christian, but her husband's not.
And then he comes home from duty and she's continuing in the faith, but he is not yet become a believer and he's really reluctant to become one. He's resistant to understanding aspects of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now it's not that it necessarily causes strife in their marriage. He just doesn't become a believer. But for her as a wife, she is long suffering for her husband, hoping that he will repent and come to know Christ and he will also be saved just as she is.
So here's why I bring up that example. Let's say you are in a marriage where you are saved, but your spouse is not. Let me encourage you with this. God has specifically chosen you to be in that situation for the salvation of your family member of your spouse, husband or wife.
Okay, so you are suffering in that you're suffering because your spouse is not saved and sharing in the afflictions of Christ so that through your example and through your declaration of the gospel, your spouse might be saved.
Now let me let me further your hope a little bit. Let's say bad comes to worse in the experience that you have in your marriage and your spouse does not get saved. They die not knowing Christ. And so then you're left wondering, well, Pastor Gabe said that, uh, that I was suffering through this so that my spouse would come to know Christ.
And they never did. Let me, let me encourage you even more, okay? Maybe your spouse did not come to saving faith, but there was somebody that observed the way that you were in your marriage. And because of the way that you acted with your spouse, obedient and submissive to Christ in all things, maybe your spouse did not become a Christian, but they did by your example.
And perhaps you will never know about that. Not on this side of heaven. But then when we get to heaven, you will like you, you just really have no idea how God has chosen you for the position that you are in and the things that you are going through to make his gospel known.
I want to give you a story. Something that happened to my mom, uh, she was a teacher in a school and I was actually teaching with her and we were both forensics coaches. If you've ever been in school and have done forensics, then you know what I'm talking about.
It's not crime scene investigation. It's acting and speech and debate and that sort of thing. Okay. That's forensics. There was one young man in particular that my mom really took under her wing. She just really had a heart for that young man.
She saw his home situation as being really bad and she just wanted to show him the love of Christ. And she really labored for that young man. I saw how much work she put into, uh, helping him hone his skills and encouraging him and all the things that he was successful in while he was in school.
In his senior year of high school, something happened. And I won't give the story or the details of what happened, but he turned on her and it was bad. I mean, it was just downright mean the way that he started treating my mom and my mom was just in despair over the whole thing and she felt like it was all for nothing.
All of the work that I put into helping this guy and yet he would turn on me in this way. Was that all for nothing? There were two girls that came up to my mom. I think this was toward the end of the school year and they said to her, we watched the way that you were with this guy.
We watched the way that you, you struggled with him and that you labored for him and you sacrificed for him. And yet he treated you the way that, uh, that he did and you love him anyway. And they said to her, we want you to know that we are believers in Christ because of you, right?
Like you have no idea the way that you are suffering in the situation that you are in. And you just have no idea how that might be proclaiming the gospel to someone else. You just don't know. In Acts chapter 17, I encourage you to go read Acts chapter 17 with the apostle Paul talking at the Areopagus.
And one of the things that he says there is that God has apportioned the times and the places that every person would live, the boundaries that they would live in so that we would all seek after God, though we might find that he is not far from any one of us.
God has appointed the time and place that you are living in. He has chosen you to reveal, to have his gospel revealed to you a mystery, which Paul talks about here in verse 26, a mystery that was hidden for ages and generations, but now revealed to his saints.
What does that mean? Well, before the cross, we did not understand how God was going to reconcile all people, Jews and Gentiles to himself. As God gave the promise to Abraham, I'm going to bless you and all nations through your offspring.
The Israelites had no idea how God was going to do that. They thought they were going to, that God was going to raise up Israel as a great kingdom and whoever loved Israel, God would bless. And whoever hated Israel, God would curse.
That's a common belief. Even today it's known as Zionism. Okay. But that was not the way that God was going to reconcile all people to himself. Remember the apostle Paul said back in verse 20, that through Christ, God is reconciling to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
So it wasn't Jesus coming in, exalted like a king. That wasn't the way that God was going to reconcile all people to himself. Although that's what the Israelites thought. And that's even what Jesus' own disciples thought.
God reconciled all things to himself through his son, coming humbly, emptying himself and taking on the form of a servant, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross, on a thieves cross. And that was the way that God was going to reconcile all people unto himself, which was a mystery before the cross.
But after the cross, it's been revealed to us, you, that God has chosen to reveal this to. It was a mystery hidden for ages and generations now revealed to his saints, to them God shows. So Paul even saying that here to the Colossians, God shows you the saints.
God shows to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, him, we proclaim warning everyone and teaching everyone, calling them to repentance and teaching them about the wonderful hope that we have in Christ Jesus with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
We are all maturing with one another into the head who is Christ Jesus, as it talks about in Ephesians chapter four, verses 11 through 16. For this I toil, Paul says, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
You are not struggling alone. You are not going through this alone. The power of Christ is with you. Pray to God and ask for his strength and his energy to endure and proclaim his gospel. Our wonderful God, thank you again for these words.
Thank you for the assurances that are given to us according to the word of God, that we may worship you, that we may mature in you, being worthy and pleasing sacrifices unto the Lord. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray, amen.
Jeremiah 29 .11 reads, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, a plan to prosper and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future. What a beautiful promise from God's word, right? Slap it on a coffee cup and fill me up with some of that.
We love that verse. In fact, according to BibleGateway .com, it is the second most searched Bible verse on the internet after John 3 .16. There's a problem with the way we tend to use it. Jeremiah 29 .11 isn't addressing us.
The verse appears in a letter written by the prophet Jeremiah to Israel, who at the time was under Babylonian captivity, having been exiled because of their sin. In verse 11, God was assuring them that they would not be annihilated by Babylon, but instead needed to pray that they would benefit from the welfare of their captors.
He then says that they will call out to him and he would restore their scattered nation. But that was a promise that wouldn't be fulfilled for another 150 years. The Israelites hearing that letter weren't even of the generation that would receive the things it promised.
So what we have is a proclamation given to a specific nation in a particular situation that prophesied the restoration of a future generation. It was not written to individuals promising health and wealth.
It's true that to those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. That's Romans 8 .28, by the way, the third most searched verse on the internet.
But we need to see the fulfillment of these promises the way the Old Testament faithful did. As it says in Hebrews 11 .16, it wasn't an earthly land they desired, but a heavenly one. And that's what we should be looking forward to when we understand the text.
Our question today comes from Trevin from right here in Kansas. In fact, he says, Dear Watch, I appreciate your videos about misused verses of the Bible, especially ones like Matthew 18 .20 and Romans 8 .28.
My question has to do with Jeremiah 29 .11. What do you say to a person who says that verse is their life verse or like it's their theme verse? Trevin, man, I feel you. Okay. Whenever I encounter somebody who says, yeah, my theme verse is Jeremiah 29 .11, I almost kind of want to go, ooh.
But I've tried to be as open and as gracious about this as possible, and I'll simply ask them, oh yeah, why is that? Why is Jeremiah 29 .11 their theme verse? Because I can tend to be kind of prejudiced when somebody says that, and I automatically assume they're using it the wrong way because that's just the way you hear people use Jeremiah 29 .11.
It's about how God is going to make me healthy and wealthy. He's going to give me closure for everything I need closure for. He's going to vindicate me for all of the wrongs that people have done against me.
Now, while some of those things are true, it's just that God's not necessarily going to provide us with those things in this lifetime. It is in the heavenly kingdom to come. That is where our wealth is.
That is where our eternal health is in Christ Jesus. That is where we will be vindicated and we will find closure. Our hope is in Christ Jesus, and so we long for that heavenly kingdom and not the earthly one.
All right. So as long as a person has that understanding that it's the heavenly kingdom that we're looking for, not the earthly fulfillment of these things that we think that God is going to give to us, then there's nothing wrong with seeing Jeremiah 29 .11 as a kind of a theme verse, because even though that verse can't be used to say that God is going to give me all of these things in this lifetime, he didn't for the people that God was talking to there through the prophet Jeremiah.
Even though they understand that they, it still reveals something about the character of God, that for God's saints, for his elect, for those whom he chose, he has plans. He has a plan to prosper us and not to harm us.
All right. The sufferings that we go through in this life, as I just talked about a little bit ago, are ultimately for his glory and they are ultimately for our good. Romans 8 .28, for God works all things for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.
That's absolutely true. To be shaped in the image of Christ as it goes into in verse 29, Romans 8 .29. So we see something about the character of God in that verse, knowing that he does give us a future and a hope.
Our hope is in Christ Jesus. Indeed, that is all true. And the verses that come after that are just as beautiful. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
So what's important for us when we study a passage like that is we understand its meaning in context and we understand the character of God that is being displayed there. Not using it as necessarily a promise for the things that we think God is going to do for us in this lifetime.
It's a great theme verse. Answer your question, Trevin. God thank you so much for your word and help us to hold fast to it for all of its beautiful truth, understanding it in the right way. We pray this in Jesus name.
Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. We hope you are a part of a church family committed to gospel teaching, and we thank you for including us in your Bible learning.
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