Book of Colossians - Ch. 1, Vs. 1-19 (09/23/2001)

Park Meadows Church

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Does high IQ mean wisdom? Does wisdom mean high

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IQ? What is wisdom? What is wisdom?

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Who's taught? Wisdom is from God, has nothing to do with IQ.

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I've heard some men that extremely dumb make wise remarks.

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All right, come to Colossians, Colossians 1. Only believers will be able to breathe the rarefied air of this letter.

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Now, why would God require us to do something that he does not? Or does he?

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Does God require us to do something that he wouldn't? Or doesn't?

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What? Well, he believes in repentance.

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He believes in himself. Now, you're going to have to raise your hand because I can't tell who's talking.

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All right, Joy? God does it what?

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All right. What else does he do that we don't?

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Name one. That's already done.

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Psalms 5 .5, the foolish shall not stand in thy sight, thou hatest all workers of iniquity.

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He doesn't love everybody, but we're instructed to because we don't know which is which.

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Psalms 11 .5, the Lord trieth the righteous, but the wicked, and him that loveth the violence, his soul hateth.

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God knows who they are. We don't. To love our enemies, this kind of love is to treat everyone correct.

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Now, you don't love an enemy like you love your spouse or a loved one, but we are to treat everybody in the correct way.

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Colossae is an Asia minor. His government was democratic.

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About a year after the writing of this letter, it was destroyed by an earthquake. That was about 1 ,800 years ago.

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This letter was carried by Ephesus, Ephiphras, from Paul to the church of Colossae.

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This church never had a building. They always met in the home of Philemon.

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Christ is the theme of this book, the head of the church.

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The Essenes were the most powerful cult at this time and location.

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Some of the things the Essenes believed, they exclusively had the

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Spirit of God. There were no other Christians. Is that belief around today?

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God created a creature that created another creature, and so on, until finally one of these creatures created a world.

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That's Mormonism. Christ was only one of these creatures.

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Unrestrained lust, if it feels good, do it. Is that prevalent today?

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You're what you are and where you are by the will of God. Isaiah 55, 11,

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So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that for which

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I please, and it shall prosper in the thing wherein

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I send it. Galatians 1, 15, But when it pleased

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God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace to reveal his

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Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.

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Jonah 1, 14, Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said,

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We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, and let us not perish for this one man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood, for thou,

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O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee. Now we could go on and on with lots of scripture showing that it pleased

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God. Because we are by the will of God, we must do our best.

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Colossians 1, 1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timotheus, our brother.

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Paul was an ambassador of God, of Jesus Christ, by the will of God.

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Daniel 4, 35, And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can his hand, or say to him,

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What doest thou? And Timotheus, our brother, that their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches, of the full assurance of understanding, in the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the

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Father, and of Christ. What does fellowship mean?

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Jesse, what does fellowship mean? Means what?

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All right. Clarence, what does fellowship mean?

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All right. John, what's fellowship mean? With what?

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All right. Roger, what's fellowship mean? Diane?

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All right. Being of one mind. You can have fellowship most any place, as long as you're of one mind and one subject, and you all agree.

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There's spiritual fellowship, and there's worldly fellowship. Fellowship with God through Christ makes saints.

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Fellowship with one another makes brethren in Christ. Saints, those who are saved, it means holy person, and such every believer is in his heart.

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The Bible was written to who? What? To the saints.

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This is the reason that non -believers cannot understand it. Only believers are able to believe, and then understand.

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Three, in whom are hid all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Thanksgiving should be a part of every prayer, shouldn't it?

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We give thanks to God always for you. Prayer is for the daily support of spiritual blessings.

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Without prayer, you might get the blessing and not the support of it. Most of us learn how to pray by listening to someone else.

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Since we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which we have to all of the saints, the trinity of prayer, faith, past, love, present, hope, future.

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Faith, love, and hope. For the hope, assurance, which is laid up for you in heaven.

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Wherein you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel.

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He who hears the gospel must bring forth fruit of the gospel. This is obedience.

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If we do not bring forth fruit, we're not obedient. Now, do you strive for the fruit or do you just strive for obedience?

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Obedience, it'll bring the fruit. In, in the word of the truth, in a primary preposition denoting fixed position, in place, time, or state.

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In, laid up, reserved for one, awaiting him.

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Heaven, the region above the starry heaven, the seat of order of things eternal and consummately perfect, where God dwells and other heavenly beings.

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Heaven, outside of the realm of this world. Who also declared unto you your love in the spirit.

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God will curse the labor of a Christian, if you listen now, that does not study during the week, and then comes on Sunday to worship him.

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He gives us the book. He's given us the blueprint. We're to study it, not just here on Sunday, but every day of the week.

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Jeremiah 7 and 8. Bill, will you turn back to that and read 8, 9, and 10.

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Jeremiah 7, 8. Yes.

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Jeremiah 7 and 8. 7 and 8.

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Wait a minute. Do I not have 7 and 8 here? Behold you trust in lying words.

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No, that's 7, 8. Surely you didn't make a mistake.

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Behold. 8, 9, and 10.

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Boy. Behold you trust in lying words.

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Now let's go down to 14 and 15.

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Boy, we can't live like the devil during the week and come and worship God on Sunday.

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It just doesn't work. Colossians 1, 9.

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For this cause, we also, since the day we heard it.

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What? 8?

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Who also declared unto us your love in the spirit? I guess so.

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As you also learned of Ephesus, our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister in Christ, who also declared unto us your love in the spirit.

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Now can I go on to 9? For this cause, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

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That's a mouthful. For this cause, we also, since the day we heard of it, knowledge.

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This is epinosis, spiritual knowledge, super knowledge given by God.

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You don't study this. It comes. All who are designed for heaven hereafter are prepared for heaven now.

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That you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing before being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

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That you might walk present active. We have to walk.

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While we're in this world. And if you don't walk here, you won't walk there.

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Strengthening with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patient and longsuffering with joy.

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Now the word strengthened is past perfect. With all might.

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What's this all might? Well, who's it against?

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That we might be strengthened with all might. Why is that there? Bill? All right.

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But we have to exhibit it. We exhibit the strength against Satan.

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Everything strengthened against Satan. According to harmony with, or according means in harmony with.

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Power. Dunamis, a miraculous power.

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Longsuffering. We must learn the difference between suffering because of our Christian walk and suffering because of sins.

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We have to learn that. God does not punish his children because of their sins.

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Why? Roger?

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All right. He's already dealt with sin once. We have to deal with it.

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Sin has its own punishment. That may be today, might be tomorrow, might be a year from now.

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But sin carries its own punishment. You never escape it. Now, where am

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I? Giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life.

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I have made to equip one with adequate power to perform duties of one.

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He made us. He made us fit to live in heaven. He is making us fit to live with him.

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Giving thanks, present tense, active. We are the ones that give thanks.

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Hath made, past active, passive. He has done all of this in the past.

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Meet means fit to be qualified. And light to make visible to those who see with understanding.

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Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son.

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Now we have two words here. Delivered us from power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of his dear son.

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Hath delivered. It's already past. Past perfect. It's active.

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He delivered us. We were delivered to draw, to compel by an irresistible superior force from the powers of darkness, but not from the presence of sin.

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Translated. What does translated mean? All right.

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What does transformed mean? Well, find a little more difference between translated and transformed.

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All right. All right.

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Translated, transformed, metamorphosed to make what is hidden to be revealed.

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To change into another state. Translated to replace, to change, to show no part of the old.

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Placed into Christ and now to show no more of the old nature. Translated. And he had here and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son.

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In that kingdom, we show nothing of the old nature. It's only the new person that is there.

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Not the old. We have to differentiate between the old and the new.

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Now we have the privilege, though I wouldn't say it's a privilege, of running back and forth because we sin.

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Fourteen, in whom we have redemption through the blood, even the forgiveness of sin.

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Now in whom, in who, Virg? Through Christ Jesus.

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All right. Through Christ Jesus, we have redemption. Greg, is that past, present, or future?

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All right. You have it right now. Anytime you want to say it, you have it.

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Two o 'clock in the morning, you have it. But it's through the blood, even the forgiveness of sins.

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The forgiveness of sin means what? Sin as though never, never did happen and never happened.

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When he forgives, he forgets. We can't forget, but he does.

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Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature?

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Who is the image of the visible God? Now, image and likeness.

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What's the difference, Virg? All right.

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The image of the invisible God. God is invisible. In this life, we cannot see him.

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In a spiritual life, we might. I don't know. I haven't been there yet. But in this life, we do not see

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God except the effects of God. The firstborn of every creature.

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This image was the firstborn. Not God the firstborn, but the image of the invisible

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God. A graphic description of the person of Christ by which we understand that in him alone,

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God shows himself to be seen. Who was begotten of the father before anything was made, that is from everlasting.

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And by him also all things that were made were made without any exception.

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By whom also they continue to exist without any exception. And whose glory they serve without any exception.

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Begotten before anything was made, and therefore the everlasting son of the everlasting father.

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For by him were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible, invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created by him and for him.

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What are these thrones, principalities, and powers? Greg, what are they?

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All right. For by him were all things created. Greg, what does that leave out?

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Doesn't leave out anything. Anything that's created was created by him. Things that are in heaven, things that are in the earth, visible, invisible, whether they be thrones, dominions, or principalities, or powers, and why were they created?

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To please him. And here

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I thought Bea was to please me. She exists because it pleases

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God. Proverbs 16, 4, the

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Lord hath made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

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Psalms 115, 3, but our God is the, God is in heaven, he does whatsoever he has pleased.

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Psalms 135, 6, whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, and the seas, and all deep places.

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1 Corinthians 12, 18, but now hath God set the number members, every one of them in the body as it pleased him.

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Bill, you were made in this body of Jesus Christ to please God, just right where you are.

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Verge the same way. For of him, through him, to him are all things to be glory forever.

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By this verse we know there are things in heaven. It is a real place where they exist.

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By him were all things created that are in heaven. There's, there's things in heaven.

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This verse assures us that all God has ever done or ever shall do is for his pleasure.

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It is all for himself. God has never done nor shall he ever do anything just for you.

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Yet everything he does is good for us. We're part of him.

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We're part of this creation. It's good for us if it pleases him. 17, and he is before all things and by him all things consist.

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The word consist gives us our word glue. Everything is glued together by Jesus Christ.

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He is that power that holds it all together. Now, Roger, what is it in this universe that holds everything in its shape?

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That's right. It is the atomic energy. He is that energy that holds everything, that made everything.

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You can break everything down to its last component as far as we know right now and it would be an atom.

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What happens when you open an atom? Harvey, what's going to happen when they open up an atom?

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Well, they've done it. He is before all things.

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What's that mean? He is before all things. It means he's set out in front of everything. So he was in existence before there was anything.

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All right. All right.

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Did they exist someplace? Are you sure?

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And nothing ever existed any place before.

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Was it in God? Then it existed before.

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What? Well, I didn't hear that. It all existed in God.

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By Christ, he made everything. Consist is to set together, glued together to make stand together.

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Jesus Christ is the creator of all the creation, of all things that had a beginning of either time or eternity.

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If you can begin eternity, that whatsoever was created was only for himself only.

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He was and is the sole end of all of his work. Everything he has done will come back to him.

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Everything originated by God, everything that we do that pleases him originated with him.

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All our good prayers originated with God. All of the thoughts you had originated with God.

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Now, not the thoughts of the devil, but the good thoughts, the good, and we can't tell good, that he was prior to all creation and to all beings.

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None of us had even been thought of yet when God created everything, that he is a preserver and governor of all things.

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Do you see how he has a right to be? And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have preeminence.

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What does preeminence mean, Roger? That he might have preeminence so that he could be first.

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And he is the head of the body, we know that, our head is in heaven. The church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,

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Jesus Christ, that in all things he might have preeminence.

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In all things, everything, all things, anything, he is preeminent.

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For it pleased the Father that in him should all the fullness dwell, and have he made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him,

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I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. Now, it pleased the

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Father that in him should all the fullness dwell. In Jesus the

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Christ, all the fullness of the Godhead dwelled, and having made peace through the blood of his cross, he did it all by himself.

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His blood made peace for everything. By him to reconcile all things unto himself, everything was reconciled to him.

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He was not reconciled to anything. By him,

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I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, Jesus Christ died on the cross to reconcile everything back to God.

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What does reconcile mean, David? All right, to bring back to where it was, as though it had never happened.

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That's what he's done. He reconciled everything to him.

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To reconcile completely, to reconcile back again, bring him back a former state of harmony.

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John 3 .16, For God so loved the world, the cosmos, the creation, that he gave his only begotten

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Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

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The word world means his creation. We'll stop here and pick it up the same place next time.

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All right, we'll start with 20 next time. Anything that you'd like to say, anything you don't want to say, well, if there is nothing, we'll stand and be dismissed.