Themes from Colossians 4 (Justice, Prayer, Gracious Speech)

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From the MCC Adult Sunday School 4/24/2022

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All right, it's about 10 o 'clock, so I guess we need to begin. Marcus is going to open us in prayer, and then we'll get into our study of Colossians chapter four.
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Dear Father, we're so happy to be together again, and to be able to worship you.
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And so that's what we do. We're worshiping you right now. We're just trying to express to you how much we love you when we think about how much you love us.
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And this is why, of course, we've come to really love your word, your voice, that's how we hear your voice, and it's just, well, again,
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I have trouble expressing myself, don't I? But thank you, and we look forward to just what you're going to say, and help us to connect with what is said to what we are going to do when we leave here.
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So bless our time together. We pray that our thoughts and attitudes would be a blessing to you.
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And thank you again, because of the reason that we're able to do this, and that's because of your great love not to sacrifice your own son, and his willingness to suffer and bear our sins.
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So we thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. Masters, give your bondservants what is just and fair, knowing that you also have the power in heaven.
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Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving, meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which
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I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak.
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Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
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Tychicus, a beloved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me.
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I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts, with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother who is one of you.
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They will make known to you all things which are happening here. Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you, with Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, about whom you received instructions.
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If he comes to you, welcome him. And Jesus, who is called Justice. These are my only fellow workers for the kingdom of God, who are of the circumcision.
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They have proved to be a comfort to me. Epiphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
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For I bear him witness that he has a great zeal for you, and those who are in Laodicea and those in Hierapolis.
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Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you. Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and Nymphos and the church that is in his house.
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Now, when this epistle is read among you, see that it is read also in the church of the
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Laodiceans, and that you likewise read the epistle from Laodicea, and say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the
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Lord, that you may fulfill it. This salutation is written by my own hand,
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Paul. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
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Amen. Okay, we're going to continue with Colossians chapter four. I'm going to break the chapter down if we get through it all, hopefully, into four sections.
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So verse one, we're going to talk about what we covered at the end of last week's class with masters and bondservants.
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That's verse one, Christian graces, verses two through six, Paul's final greetings, seven through 15, and then the last few verses will be closing exhortation.
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So let's look at Colossians chapter four, verse one.
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Paul says, Masters, give your bondservants what is just and fair, knowing that you also have a master in heaven.
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So what's another translation or another term for bondservant? Slave. Right.
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So that's what Paul is addressing. The issue of slavery and you had masters and you had the servants.
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So the King James version, I think, translates it servants, the new King James bondservants, but there are some translations that would render it just slave.
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So that was the reality in the ancient world. And it's still a reality in some places today.
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Now if you look down at verse nine, you'll notice a familiar name. Hopefully, it's a familiar name,
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Onesimus. So Onesimus was a slave and his master was who?
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Talked about this last week. Philemon. Right. So the book of Philemon, just to quickly summarize what happened, and Paul wrote
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Philemon right around the same time he wrote Colossians. So Philemon was a master, Onesimus was his bondservant, and Onesimus likely stole something from him, ran off, bumps into Paul, apparently in Rome.
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Paul converts him to Christ and then they figure out that, hey, we both know Philemon because Paul had converted
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Philemon, Onesimus ran away from Philemon. So that's an interesting letter in the
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New Testament, the book of Philemon. So basically, the Holy Spirit inspired that letter because it reaffirms this idea that Paul keeps teaching in the
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New Testament that in Christ, there is neither slave nor free. In Christ, we are all what?
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We're all one in Christ Jesus. There is neither Jew nor Gentile.
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There is neither male nor female. The relationship between master and slave is broken down in Christ.
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So that afterwards, Philemon and Onesimus became brethren. Okay, so Paul or Christ put them on the same level.
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So I had ended last week's class by saying, obviously, the Bible is not saying, hey, slavery is great.
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This is what people should do. Of course, that's not what it's saying. But if biblical principles are put into place, those types of injustices start to break down.
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So that's the point that Paul is making with the letter to Philemon.
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I think we know this, that in society, in culture, in the world, what do they want to do?
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They want to pit one group against the other. So that's not the
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Christian way, obviously. So that's just a quick summary of what we talked about last week.
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At some point, you're going to come across people who are critics of the
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Bible. They hate Christianity, and they're going to try to make this argument that the Bible teaches or endorses slavery.
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In the Old Testament, when there was a war and one nation defeated another, they would often enslave the people, and that was part of warfare.
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But never is it said, hey, this is good. And again, track
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Christian history and the Bible from Old and New Testaments. Eventually, that gets broken down. Any final questions on that or comments before we move on?
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I think it's good to at least bring this stuff up. I know some people would maybe not want to touch it with a 10 -foot pole, but I think we need to be ready to have a response when somebody comes at us and says, hey, look at this.
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Hey, look at this. And wow, I've never heard that before. I've never thought about it before. Okay, so let's move on to the next section,
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Christian graces, verses 2 through 6. Paul writes, continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving.
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Meanwhile, praying also for us that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which
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I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak, walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time, and let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
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So he begins by reminding believers to continue, what, earnestly in prayer.
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What does that mean? Continue earnestly in prayer. How would you put that in your own words?
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What? Constant. Okay. Okay. You know, pray without ceasing, right?
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There's that admonition in 1 Thessalonians 5, 17. Make it a priority, right?
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Meet it. Yeah. Take it seriously. Bill? From the heart. From the heart.
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Good. Marcus? Fervent. Fervent. Okay. King James says continue.
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Continue. These are all great responses because you could pray in such a way where it's just rope.
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You know, listen, I am a believer in praying the Lord's Prayer, but not only the
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Lord's Prayer, because I think Christians should have the Lord's Prayer memorized, and once you have it memorized, you can kind of base your prayers.
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It's a model on how to pray, right? The disciples said, Jesus, teach us how to pray, and he gave them the
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Lord's Prayer, but he didn't give them the Lord's Prayer to, okay, that's our prayer life now, just repeating this prayer over and over again.
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You know, say the Lord's Prayer 50 times to get your, you know, penance from the church.
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I mean, I know if I pray the Lord's Prayer, my mind can easily go into, you know, what's the term
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I'm looking for? Auto. Yeah. Yeah.
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Auto mode. You know, that's what I'm looking for, and it just comes out. I don't even think about what I'm saying. That should not be our prayer life.
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It should be good from the heart. Take it seriously. Mean it. Why do you think prayer is often neglected?
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I think one reason is people don't get their prayers answered. They're praying for something.
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They keep praying for it, and God doesn't do it, and they think, well, what's the point?
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And then they give up. I think that's one reason why prayer is often neglected.
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If that describes you or if that sounds familiar, we should probably evaluate what we're praying for.
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Here's something that I believe will always be answered. You pray that God would be glorified.
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That's going to be answered. Lord, give me a Mercedes Benz. I guess that was a song and not a prayer, but I guess you probably had one, but I don't know if the
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Lord gave it to her. We understand the point. What are you praying for? So any comments on this?
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He only provides what you need, not what you want. Right? Yeah. Delight yourself also in the
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Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37. And that doesn't mean he's just going to give you whatever you want.
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He's going to put the right desires in your heart. So if you're praying for something and it's clear
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God is either saying no or wait, just examine that.
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So here's another thing in verse three, Paul says, pray for us.
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And who's the us there? Paul is talking about himself. You go back to chapter one.
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You'll see who's with him. Paul and Timothy, right?
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So he says, pray for us. And there were other people with him. So that's important that he reminds believers to pray for church leaders.
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It's understood that church leaders are to be praying for the people, but the people should be praying for the church leaders as well.
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So yeah, he says, pray for us. So people should be praying for the church leadership or any church leadership.
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And another reason why we pray is not just to get God to do things for us. Praying also helps us to grow for our affections for one another.
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Having someone in your prayers, not first of all, it keeps them in your mind.
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Because if you're not thinking about someone and the things they're going through all week or all month, you're probably not going to be inclined to help them or anything like that.
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So praying keeps keeps the person in in mind. Also, if you ever find yourself having feelings that it may be somebody isn't your favorite person in the world that happens.
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If you pray for them, you know, it's kind of hard to really have an axe to grind and have these feelings towards someone if you're constantly praying for them.
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So just like biblical principles breaks down in justice and slavery praying for people starts to break down those feelings of negativity towards someone else.
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And also prayer is effectual. Somebody quoted that verse. Prayer is effectual.
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The scripture says you have not because you ask not now, you might ask a miss.
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You might be praying for the wrong things. That's true. But prayer does make a difference. One time this came up.
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Somebody asked a question. Well, you know, if God knows the end from the beginning and he's in control, what's the point of praying?
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Because what's going to happen is going to happen. I don't want to go down that road, especially when it comes to the subject of prayer.
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Because that's the wrong way to look at it. Yes, God knows what's going to happen. But does prayer.
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Let me just ask you, does prayer change things? Yes, absolutely. Going through Exodus and numbers.
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How many times did Moses intercede on behalf of the people?
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And then God responded to Moses prayer, right?
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Well, you knew that he was going to do that and it was all predestined or something. Listen, just forget that for a second.
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Moses prayed and God answered the prayer and it made a difference. Amen. So prayer is effectual.
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Also, it changes you. Even if it doesn't change the outcome with what
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God's going to do, it changes you and we don't want to forget about that. So Paul makes this statement continue earnestly in prayer.
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Being vigilant and then he goes on to talk about God pray that God would open up a door for the word.
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Now, when he talks about opening up a door for the word, he's talking about ministry opportunities, being able to preach, being able to make a difference in someone's life and the life of the city and Paul certainly did that.
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He changed the Roman Empire was changed because of the ministry of the
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Apostle Paul. He made a big difference. So he's asking for doors to be opened up for the ministry of the word.
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Of course, that's why Paul's in prison, isn't it? Paul is in prison because he was out preaching the word everywhere and anywhere.
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Verse 3 Paul talks about the mystery of Christ the mystery.
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So when you see the word mystery in the New Testament, basically this is something that was previously not known that in times past or certainly in the
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Old Testament Scriptures. This wasn't really understood. So Paul is talking about the mystery of Christ.
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The church is also called a mystery. This idea that Jew and Gentile would be brought together in in one body.
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That was something the Jews really didn't understand. It's not something they were interested in. What else is called a mystery?
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The rapture is called a mystery and 1st Corinthians 15 51 and 52.
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He says behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
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So the idea that there'd be a generation of Christians that would never die. Nobody really knew that.
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Also the idea that God can dwell within you. They understood God dwelling in the tabernacle.
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They understood the Jews did God dwelling in the temple, but the idea of God dwelling in you
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Christ in you the hope of glory that your body is now the temple of the
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Holy Spirit again, that's that's called a mystery. So anytime you see the word mystery pay attention because that's something new being revealed.
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Of course at this point, if we know the Scripture, it's not new to us. It's been in the church age now for 1900 years, but pay attention to that word and then he says let your speech always be with grace your speech always be with grace and this should be without question that the way
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Christians talk should be different from the way unbelievers talk. I think of let's say a
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Christian were to get a job in construction and after about a month on the on the crew people should notice the difference that this guy is the only one not dropping four -letter words.
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This guy's not he's the only one not laughing at the dirty jokes are telling the dirty jokes and I think part of it is people think there's this idea of people take this verse by Paul out of context become all things to all men.
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Right and people have this idea that Paul was kind of just trying to blend in with people which is true to a degree maybe because you want it again wanted to make the most of every opportunity.
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Here's what I'm getting at. There are some people who have the idea that if I'm just one of the guys, you know, if I can just be like them and maybe loosen up a little bit that'll give me a better opportunity to share
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Christ with them because I'll be one of the guys and they'll be more likely to listen to me. That's false.
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When you do share Christ, they're just going to view you as a hypocrite. That's all that does not work.
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So on the one hand acting differently speaking differently that will put you on the outs, but when the moment comes where somebody does want someone to pray for them or they are interested in the things of God, they have a question
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They're going to go to you because they know that you're not like everybody else.
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So don't fall into that mindset where well, I'm just going to be like other people because that's going to that's going to open up doors of opportunity.
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That's not what Paul is talking about when he's talking about pray that God would open up a door. So make the most of your opportunities.
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He talks about redeeming the time look at verse 6 that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
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When you're talking to people about Christ, I think it's important to listen to what they have to say instead of having a prepackaged gospel presentation.
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Listen to what they're saying. Listen to what their questions are. Try to hear what's maybe preventing them from believing because if they get the idea that you're just trying to sell them on something people aren't going to listen.
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I think a lot of people reject. Maybe you witnessing to them because they think you're just you have your agenda and you don't really care about me.
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You're just trying to get me to go along with with what you think. Do you think it comes off like that sometimes but if they know that you actually care about them and that you're willing to listen to them and not just say well you're doing this wrong and I heard you say that that's a sin and you're and you need to get right that I mean that's that all has its place and preaching
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I suppose but I mean that's not really the way to address somebody one -on -one if you want to win them to Christ they need to know that you care.
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Emo you had your head to the salt. Yes, I think it's opposite is in reference to a solid uncorrupted.
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You're speaking solid uncorrupted that you're not judy eyes. You're not you're not bending to people in the workplace or people in the political place or people in the educational place, right?
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Well, or the corruption of the churches, right? It's going on now by bending to societal wars, which are which are certainly well -corrupted, right?
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So I think the salt is to that you have it and it's modified by or explained by so that you will know so you know how you should respond to each person.
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So we consistently the truth. Okay, so if salt is a preservative it it works against corruption.
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So in your speech, I'm glad you brought that up. There shouldn't be any corruption in your speech good.
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Yeah, and it's not just kind of the crass language that people use and I don't think that's what
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Paul had in mind. But I see this within kind of mainstream evangelical
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Christianity. You have what the world is doing here. You have what the Bible is saying here and they're trying to figure out how can we kind of bridge the gap?
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How can we be more like the world but still retain some semblance of Christianity to maybe become all things to all men so they'll listen to us if we kind of bend in that direction.
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That's corruption. All right, let's move on to the next section. This is versus 7 through 15 final greetings.
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He says ticket kiss a beloved brother faithful minister and fellow servant in the
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Lord will tell you all the news about me. So he said I'm sending him to you for this very purpose that he may know your circumstances and comfort your heart.
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So ticket kiss is somebody we don't really think much about or hear much about but you must have been a trusted companion of Paul because it seems that he's the one entrusted to deliver the letter of Colossians.
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So he takes the letter he delivers it to them. So we're all familiar I think with people like Barnabas and Timothy and Silas and there's those well -known people but then there's the men like this and you know, sometimes you don't have to be in the limelight.
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Sometimes you don't have to be where I just everybody knows your name and that's what it's all about. What matters is that you're faithful notice what he says about ticket kiss that he is a beloved brother a faithful minister.
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That's better than all the the fame in the world to be considered a a beloved brother and faithful minister of the
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Lord. He mentions a few other people.
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She's going to mention Luke and in Demas in a moment. He mentions Onesimus in verse 9.
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We talked about him with the letter to Philemon. He says with Onesimus a faithful and beloved brother who is one of you.
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They will make known to you all the things which are happening here and then
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Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you Aristarchus is mentioned in the book of Acts also in the letter to Philemon.
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This is a Greek name. So a lot of the people that followed Paul some of them were Jews. Timothy was at least half
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Jewish, but many of them were were Greeks as well. And then he talks about Mark.
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He says the cousin of Barnabas about whom you received instructions. If he comes to you welcome him and Jesus who is called justice.
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There are there are they these are excuse me. These are my only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are of the circumcision and they have proved to be a comfort to me just one thing about this this man
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Jesus, but they called him justice. I guess I can't prove this but I've noticed a lot of people they name their children
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Peter or Paul or Matthew Mark Luke or John. How many of you know a Christian whose name their child
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Jesus issues? Well, we're talking about in our culture. It's just not done right in in the
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Protestant world or Evangelical world. You don't name your kid Jesus because why
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I mean is the way I well the way I think about it. There's only one Jesus and I'm not going to name my kid
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Jesus. So is that why they called him justice because they felt funny about calling him Jesus maybe not but that's that's just sort of my my take on it verse 13 for I bear him witness that he has a great zeal for you and those who are in Laodicea Laodicea and those in Hierapolis.
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Okay, that's a path for us. I skipped over verse 12 the path for us who is one of you a bond servant of Christ greets you always laboring fervently for you and prayers that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
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So here's a man who had a great zeal for reaching this area to Christ this
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Dennis talked about this a month or so ago about the Tri -City area. You remember that so there's three cities all in one location.
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So he had a great zeal for that area. That should be our attitude. I think for this area, you know, whatever is going on in Boston or out
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West. There's Christians there who have a zeal to reach that area. It's our job to reach this area.
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So we should have a zeal for a labyrinth for Greenfield for Turner's Falls. Okay, when you get out to North Adams, there's
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Christians out there that can have a zeal for that town, but we should have a zeal for for this area that we are living in then he mentions
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Luke a beloved physician and Demas. They greet you Demas didn't turn out so well and second
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Timothy. He loved the world too much. He he departed he forsook Paul Luke on the other hand.
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There's a contrast Luke turned out great Luke. Actually, I know we've talked about Paul writing the majority of the
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New Testament. If you actually look at just content Luke wrote the majority of the
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New Testament between the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. There's more content there than what
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Paul wrote. So Luke ended up being a very faithful man verse 15 greet the brethren who are in Laodicea in Nymphs in the church that is in his house.
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So back then obviously they had house churches Christianity wasn't established like it is today.
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There still may be a need for house churches today. But if you if you're living in this area, you can find a good church in this area.
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Maybe maybe not in others but places where there's persecution a house church is a good option verse 14 or 16.
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Now when this epistle is read among you see that it is read also in the church of the
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Laodiceans and that you likewise read the epistle of the Laodiceans.
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So in the church assembly there was to be the reading of God's word. So they would open up or you know, curl out
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Paul's letter and read that and the epistle to the Laodiceans this many believe is a reference to the book of Ephesus, but that's that's debatable verse 17.
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We're going to finish. Okay. Give me two more minutes. I know we're over time verse 17 and say to help me with this name
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Archippus. Thank you. Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the
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Lord that you may fulfill it. That's one of those names that always that always gets me how amazing would it be to have the
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Apostle Paul mention you in Scripture. I just think of these guys, you know, they did some of these people are just mentioned once and you don't know who they are, but their names are immortalized in the word of God forever.
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And I think that's that's pretty cool. And then the final verse he says this salutation by my own hand
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Paul remember my chains grace be with you. Amen.
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So Paul would have somebody who would maybe as a secretary yet and they would write the letter.
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He might dictate it to them. But at the end he would take his name and and sign it with big letters and however his signature look people knew hey, this is from the
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Apostle Paul. So remember my chains and I think we should remember the
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Christians today who are who are in chains many missionaries right now are are in chains because of the gospel.