Equipping Eve: Doctrinally Sound Legalism

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Is the church today doing everything it can to provide women a firm foundation of truth in Christ Jesus?

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Well, it's true, there's no shortage of candy -coated Bible studies, potluck fellowships available to ladies.

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But beyond Sunday morning, are Christian women being properly equipped to stand against the same deceptions that even enticed

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Eve in the garden? In an attempt to address the need for trustworthy, biblical resources for women,

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No Compromise Radio is happy to introduce Equipping Eve, a ladies -only radio show that seeks to equip women with fruits of truth in an age that's ripe with deception.

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My name is Mike Abendroth and I'm pleased to introduce your host Erin Benzinger, a friend of No Compromise Radio and a woman who wants to see other women equipped with a love for and a knowledge of the truth of God's word.

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Well, hello ladies and welcome to Equipping Eve. I'm your host Erin Benzinger. Time for the same old spiel, you know how to find us, right?

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Equipping Eve is on Twitter, at Equipping Eve. Facebook, at Equipping Eve. So it's really not too difficult to find.

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Type it into the search bar, Equipping Eve. I don't think the name's taken by anything else, but now that I've said it,

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I'm sure it will be. Anyway, equippingeve .com or .org, they'll both get you there.

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That is kind of the one -stop shop. You'll find the podcast, you'll find the blog, some links to some older articles that I've written.

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The blog would have anything new that's being published along the way, as well as resources, other ministries and podcasts and churches that I might recommend.

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So check it out, equippingeve .com. I'm still excited about that website, even though I revamped it several months ago.

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So, you know, I wish I could put a lot more on there and make it a lot fancier than it is even now, but time prevents me from doing that because time doesn't exist in my world.

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And I'm sure you all feel the same. Where does the time go? I don't know. You know, I overslept this morning and thought, well, there's where 30 minutes went.

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I was sleeping. That's annoying. So, anyway, that's okay. I must have needed it.

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So check us out, equippingeve .com, and let me know if you have any suggestions from a technical side for the website, if there's anything that you would like to hear us talk about on the show.

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Why do I keep saying us? It's me and producer Charlie, who you can also find his bio on the website as well.

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That's my cat. And, you know, but if there's anything, any articles you'd like to see or anything you'd like to hear discussed on Equipping Eve, ideas for interviews or whatever,

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I am open. So contact me through one of those means, Facebook, Twitter, the blog, there's a contact page there.

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Also at the blog, feel free to download. There is a Bible study there through the Book of Zechariah.

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So it's actually based off of John MacArthur's sermons through Zechariah. So you would listen to the sermon and do the lesson along with that.

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Please note that it is not, the Bible study was not created, produced, nothing, has nothing to do with Grace To You.

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However, I do have permission to have it out there. So there you go.

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We're all covered there. And there's all kinds of things you can find out at equippingeve .com.

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So go there, visit. Let me know what else you'd like to see or hear here on the show.

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So thanks for tuning in. It's another day. It's another Saturday.

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As I record this, I often record on Saturdays, and you hear the podcasts on Saturday, or at least they're posted on a

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Saturday. So here it is. As I record this, it's actually the week before Easter.

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Yes, I said Easter. Ow. Alright, tens and tens of people just stopped listening because clearly

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I'm a pagan. I said Easter, not Resurrection Day. Yeah, it's true.

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It's true. I worship the goddess Ishtar. It's true.

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No, it's not. It's not true. Don't take that soundbite. Okay, so this actually will go along with what we're going to discuss later.

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Easter. It's okay to call it Easter. I'm just going to put that out there.

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If you hear a fellow Christian brother or sister in Christ say Easter, say

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Happy Easter, or Easter's coming, or just use the word Easter, it does not mean they aren't saved.

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It doesn't even mean that they're uninformed. It just means that with a clear conscience, they feel as though they can use the word

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Easter. And that's okay. You know,

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I used to be of a mindset of, you know, if you don't say

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Resurrection Sunday, you... I don't know. I'd question my salvation if I were you.

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Just saying. That used to be my mindset coming from ultimately a legalistic church.

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And that's just wrong. And that mindset is sinful. And we see it with so many things.

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You know, we see it at Christmastime, and we see it with so many things, and it's just... It's wrong.

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And I'm jumping ahead of myself, because we're actually going to get into a discussion of this today. But, you know,

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I'm here to say it's the week before Easter as I record this, and that's... It's okay to call it Easter. Is Resurrection Day a more clear, comprehensive descriptor?

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Of course. Of course. But neither way is sinful. So I'm just putting that out there.

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If you choose to turn off the podcast because of it, so be it. I can't control that.

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I'm okay with it. I can move on with a clear conscience. So I just... And I say that not to sound cocky or arrogant, because it may have come across that way.

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And so my apologies, because that's not my intention. I just have lived the legalistic mindset, and it grieves me when

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I see it in others. And so I encourage you ladies not to look down on others just because they don't walk and talk just like you do.

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You know, we have a certain walk and talk about us because we are saved by Christ and renewed and regenerated, but we have liberty in certain things as well, and we have to remember that.

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And there is a balance. So let's be mindful of that in silly things like Easter versus Resurrection Day.

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So anyway, completely getting ahead of myself there, but it is the week before Easter.

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And as such, I found a rather interesting little article here in my local paper.

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And I missed this. I didn't know that this was happening. I missed this, that there was an Easter egg hunt on March 17th in the next township over.

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And it was one of the local Methodist churches was celebrating Easter by inviting toddlers through sixth graders,

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I'm too old, to come to an Easter egg hunt. Now, you know, going back to this legalism thing,

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I have no problem with Easter egg hunts. I don't have a problem at all. I remember doing

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Easter egg hunts as a kid. Goodness, I remember we had one when I was in college. The dorms, the

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RAs did one for us in college. It was fun. And that's okay. It did not mean we were a bunch of pagans.

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Now, we were actually a bunch of pagans running around, because I don't think any of us were saved in college, and I know as a child

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I wasn't saved, but anyway, that's not my point. It's okay, as a Christian, if you want to do a little

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Easter egg hunt for your child. I'm okay with that. If you don't feel like you can do that with a clear conscience, then don't.

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Don't judge those who do, because there is no sin against candy being hidden in little plastic eggs. It's not in the

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Bible. So there you go. And so this was being put on by one of the local churches.

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Okay, you know, maybe there, I'm a little thinking that the church probably should have a different focus.

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So I might get a little picky there, but then it gets better. And this is where churches should just, you know, stick to Resurrection Day, probably.

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So the article goes on and says, in addition to the actual egg hunt, there will be games and crafts for the whole family. Again, not a sin.

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The Easter bunny will be there to visit with the children and have his photograph taken with them. Okay, problem.

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Yeah. Churches, no, let's not do that. Let's not do the Easter bunny thing. That's just, you know, then we are taking our eyes off of Christ at this point, because Easter now has a whole different theme.

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So it goes on, and this is where I laughed, and this is what I actually wanted to look at very, very briefly, or I really just wanted to share it with you so you could laugh with me.

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It says, families will also have the opportunity to participate in a CSI Christ scene investigation.

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What is that, you ask? Well, the CSI Christ scene investigation is where you examine scenes to find evidence to answer the question, did

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Jesus rise from the dead? Parents are encouraged to bring their cameras, and children should bring their

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Easter baskets for the hunt. Okie dokie. So, you know, bad news,

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I missed out on this. And actually, had I known about this, and the Christ scene investigation piece,

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I might have gone to see what in the world that was about, because that sounds nonsensical.

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So anyway, there's a fine line, my friends, and I think that church is on the wrong side of it.

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But, you know, if you were looking for something to do, you could do a CSI Christ scene investigation.

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There you are. So there it is, there you have it. Now that I've completely split the show up and it's just kind of awkward and weird, we're going to go back to this legalism thing, because I have titled this episode

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Doctrinally Sound Legalism. And we'll get there. We'll get there. And by using that title, or that phrase,

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I do not mean to say that there is any sort of legalism that is doctrinally sound. So there you go.

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You don't have to listen through the whole show to figure that out. Because legalism is not biblical. Legalism is sinful.

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Legalism diminishes the gospel, and diminishes the sufficiency of Christ, and that is a problem.

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Can I get an amen? Okay. So ladies, turn with me to Colossians.

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And I think we've been in Colossians a fair amount lately. Or maybe it was just one show, I'm not sure.

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But I have been in Colossians a lot lately. I just, I love this epistle.

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And I don't know specifically why, I just, it covers so much in such a short space.

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And maybe that's just my impatience showing, I don't know. The Apostle Paul just gets to the point and covers all this stuff in just a few chapters, and it's marvelous.

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And the best part is, is he starts out talking about the incomparable

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Christ, right? We've talked about that in the past, and we've looked at just how amazing our

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Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is. And that's telling, isn't it?

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That he starts this epistle with that. That he looks at Christ and says to the church at Colossae, this is who you have.

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You have the Creator and Savior of the world. And he has chosen you.

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And he has saved you and regenerated you. And he calls you his own. And now, what are you doing?

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Right? So we get into chapter 2, as it is broken up in our modern

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Bibles. And turn with me, ladies, to Colossians chapter 2, verse 6. We're going to do a fair bit of reading here, just to really get the context and understand what

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Paul is saying here. But we're going to focus on only a couple of verses. So this is your famous, you know, read three paragraphs to talk about two verses tactic.

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That's what we're doing here. But that's okay, because it's Colossians, and it's a marvelous book. So here we go. Chapter 2, verse 6.

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Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.

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See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.

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For in him, all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. And in him, you have been made complete, and he is the head over all rule and authority.

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And in him, you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

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When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us.

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And he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When he had disarmed the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through him.

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Verse 16, therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a

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Sabbath day, things which are a mere shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

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Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self -abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.

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If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees such as do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, which all refer to things destined to perish with use, in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?

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These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom and self -made religion and self -abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.

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What in the world is Paul talking about here? And like I said, we read a lot, and we're only going to talk about a little.

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We're kind of cherry -picking here to do a topical show, which is what we do here, because I'm not a preacher, so I don't have to walk through an entire book verse by verse.

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We can do topical podcasts. Again, it's not a sin. Okay, so here we go. So in this passage, and particularly from verse 16 on, which is where we pause to call that out,

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Paul is seeking to combat three primary errors that have crept into the Colossian church.

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Right? Legalism, number one, mysticism, number two, and asceticism. And we're going to focus today on the first one, legalism, because if we tried to do all three, well, we all know how much

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I talk, and it would be a really long show. So we won't do that. And whether we'll come back to them or not, I don't know. I haven't decided yet.

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I'll have to think about it. So let's step back a little bit further, actually.

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What is the background here of this church at Colossae? So what

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I love about gty .org, or the

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MacArthur Study Bible, whichever you prefer, is the book backgrounds for every book of the

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Bible. And so they're just kind of a quick snapshot, not super in -depth commentary with everything you could ever learn about the church at Colossae, but it's a great snapshot.

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And so if you aren't familiar with the Book of Colossians or the background, I recommend that you go to gty .org

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and look up this Bible background, and we'll link to it at equibeneve .com.

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So you'll be able to find it there, because I'm not going to read through all of this.

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But we'll just take a look at some of this. So obviously, the author here is the

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Apostle Paul. He's writing to the church at Colossae, which was started during Paul's ministry at Ephesus, but it was not founded by Paul.

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Paul was actually never there. So what we believe happened is that this church here at Colossae was founded by Epaphras, who was converted under the

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Apostle Paul and went back and started this church here at Colossae.

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And Paul knew about it, and he was writing here to encourage the believers at the church at Colossae.

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And if you look back in the first chapter here of Colossians, in verse 2,

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Paul writes to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae, We give thanks to God, the

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Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth.

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This is how we know, just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bondservant who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, and he also informed us of your love in the

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Spirit. Paul does write long sentences, doesn't he? So that's the founding of the church at Colossae.

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And what we see here, what Paul is starting to address, is that this church had a heresy creeping in, and it was there to threaten the church.

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And really when we examine it, it seems to be an early form of Gnosticism. But there were also elements of Jewish legalism that were brought in to this church.

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And MacArthur, in his Bible background, makes the point that Colossae's population was mainly

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Gentile, which is hugely ironic when you consider these verses that we were reading that these heretics, these cultists, were trying to impose

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Jewish legalism on these Gentiles. But he says there was a large Jewish settlement dating from the days of Antiochus the

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Great. So there was a mixed population of Jews and Gentiles that manifested itself both in the composition of the church and in the heresy that plagued it.

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And that's from MacArthur's background of this book. So we see an early form of Gnosticism, God is good, matter is evil.

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So we see a few elements of that here in Colossians that Paul is trying to combat.

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And Gnosticism would say that there's a secret knowledge that you need to have to attain true enlightenment and salvation.

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But what we're looking at today specifically are these aspects of Jewish legalism. The necessity of circumcision for salvation, observing the ceremonial rituals of the

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Old Testament law, so dietary laws, festivals, Sabbath, etc., and rigid asceticism.

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It also called, says MacArthur, for the worship of angels and mystical experience. And so Paul hears about this from Epaphras and writes this letter to set the

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Colossians straight. And so that is what we're looking at. That's a little bit of background here for these verses.

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So these heretics were adding to the gospel, ultimately.

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They're adding rules to Christianity. And if you don't conform, you're probably not a true

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Christian, or at the very least, you're not a very mature one. So now we have these levels of Christianity.

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And so if you look again at verse 16 here in Colossians, they're adding rules about food, the dietary laws.

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They're reaching back into the Old Testament laws to the dietary laws. Verse 16, Paul says,

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So, food or drink. Why is no one to judge us in regard to food or drink?

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Because God had already abolished this law. If you turn back, ladies, to Romans 14, verse 17,

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Paul writes, The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the

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Holy Spirit. I mean, so right there, the kingdom of God is not about what you eat and drink.

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And aren't we all familiar? I'm sure many of your brains first went to Acts, the book of Acts, chapter 10.

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I'm turning there myself right now. Reminder, ladies, I use the NASB, New American Standard Bible.

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It's my favorite translation. The ESV is also good. If they would just stop tweaking it all the time, that'd be fine.

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So I use the NASB. Okay, Acts, chapter 10, verse 9.

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On the next day, as they were on their way and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray.

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But he became hungry and was desiring to eat. But while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance and he saw the sky opened up and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground.

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And there were in it all kinds of four -footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air. A voice came to him,

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Get up, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.

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Again, a voice came to him a second time, What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.

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This happened three times, and immediately the object was taken up into the sky. So here,

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God has told Peter, It's okay. These rules have been abolished.

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And indeed, one wonders perhaps why Peter did not remember what

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Jesus said during his earthly ministry. If you turn to Mark chapter seven, verse 14.

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After he called the crowd to him again, he began saying to them, Listen to me, all of you and understand there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him.

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But the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.

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When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples questioned him about the parable.

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And he said to them, Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach and is eliminated?

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Thus he declared all foods clean and was saying, That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man.

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For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting, wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.

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All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man. But verse 19, he declared all foods clean.

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The dietary laws were no longer required to be followed.

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And so we see that here come these early

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Gnostics and they're saying, No, no, no. You still have to be circumcised in order to be saved.

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You still have to follow all of the dietary laws. You still have to celebrate all of the festivals and observe the

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Sabbath day. You have to do everything that the Old Testament law said that we should do.

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And Paul is saying, No, no. We're under the new covenant.

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We are under the new covenant and Christ has fulfilled the law.

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Remember in Matthew 5 verse 17, where it says that Christ came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.

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And there's a great explanation of this on GotQuestions .org. It says, Jesus did not come to this earth for the purpose of acting as an opponent of the law.

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His goal was not to prevent its fulfillment. Rather, he revered it, loved it, obeyed it, and brought it to fruition.

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Right? Jesus Christ fulfilled the law. Jesus Christ kept the law perfectly the way that we are supposed to if we wanted to save ourselves, but the way that we cannot.

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And so he fulfilled the law. And so in Christ, these rules have already been fulfilled.

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And because we are in Christ and we are clothed with his righteousness, we have already obeyed this law in Christ.

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Because Christ obeyed it and we are cloaked in his righteousness. Christ has obeyed the law and he, in his grace and mercy, imputes his righteousness to us so that when we stand before God the

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Father, we are seen as righteous. We are justified because of what

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Christ has done. And Paul makes so clear.

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I love verse 17 of Colossians 2 here. He says, No one should act as your judge in regard to these things.

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These are just earthly rules. And verse 17 says, These things are a mere shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

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And here we could go into a huge dissertation of types and shadows and what all of these aspects of the law, how they were just pointing to Christ.

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The law serves as this mirror, right? And it shows us our sin. We can't keep all these dietary laws and every one of the commandments and all of the ceremonial laws and all the festivals and do everything perfectly and keep all the sacrifices and make sure that we're doing all the sacrifices and make sure we even have the sacrifice for the sins that we don't know we commit.

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We've got to make sure that we sacrifice the animal for that as well. We can't do all that. We cannot fulfill the law on our own.

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Christ fulfilled the law. And the law shows us that we need a

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Savior and therefore points to Christ. Turn to Hebrews, chapter 10.

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So I have a new Bible, and so some of the pages still stick. Hebrews 10, verse 1,

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For the law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near.

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And so this, of course, is speaking specifically in regard to the sacrifices. But the whole purpose of the whole law was, as I said, to reveal our sin and point us to Christ.

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And it is Christ who fulfilled the law. And now, in Christ, the law is not required for us.

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Now. That being said, that does not mean we can run around as our fallen sinful selves and just be a bunch of sinful piggins.

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That's not how that works. When we are saved, we are renewed, we are regenerated. We are new creatures in Christ, right?

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And with that then comes a renewed mind, renewed desires, renewed heart. And so we are different people.

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And we desire to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel that has saved us and to live lives that are worthy testimonies to Christ.

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And so we don't run around carousing and engaging in all of these deeds of immorality that are listed countless places here in scripture.

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But it also means that we can eat whatever we want.

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It's okay to eat a pork chop. I know Joel Osteen at some point told people to eat turkey bacon because you aren't supposed to eat pork, and so you should eat turkey bacon.

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And clearly he's never tasted turkey bacon because that just sounds disgusting.

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But in Christ we are new creatures and we have liberty.

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Now that might mean that we restrain our liberty if we know that it would make another brother or sister stumble.

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But we have liberty in regard to these things. We are not bound to observe the Sabbath on Saturday.

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We are not bound to celebrate the Jewish festivals. We are not Israel. And even those

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Jews who have been saved and who are now part of the church, they are not bound to celebrate those festivals.

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We are under a new covenant. We are in Christ. And the thing is, ladies, at the end of the day, anybody can keep a rule.

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Anybody can. And rules like this set people up for deception because you suddenly are doing all the right things.

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We may not hear a lot of rules in our churches about things we can or can't eat nowadays. You know, the way that the

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Old Testament had such strict dietary laws which were for a purpose to set them apart from the nations around them and for health purposes and all of these things.

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And so we may not have those today, although the gluten -free... And I say that in jest. I do understand that there are people who legitimately have a condition and cannot consume gluten.

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And so I do not mean to belittle that at all. But let's be quite honest that this thing is out of control.

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That there are people who have eaten gluten their whole lives and have been fine, but suddenly decided that they shouldn't eat it.

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Because I do think some people see so many people in their church going gluten -free and food -free, and, oh,

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I must be more spiritual if I do that. And I'm just using that as an example. So please don't send me emails about your gluten intolerance, please.

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And we may not even have written -down rules within our church that says, eat this, don't eat this, drink this, don't drink this, dress this way, don't dress this way, whatever.

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But I think in some churches we have a mindset and kind of an unspoken list of rules.

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And it may not be, well, if you do this, this, and this, you're saved. And if you do this, this, and this, you're not saved.

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It may not be that clear. It may not be in regards to salvation versus no salvation.

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But there is a mindset, and I've seen it, and I've experienced it, and I've been on the prideful side of it, that says, if you're doing this, you're at least more spiritual.

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And if you're not doing this, you're not as mature, and there's a chance you might not be saved.

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Think about it. What are some examples? Specific clothing or makeup, rules about makeup now.

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Do we dress modestly? Of course. That's in Scripture. That's part of our new nature. We desire to be modest so that we are honoring

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God with our bodies that way. But it's okay to wear a skirt that comes to your knee.

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It doesn't have to come down to your heel. It's okay. But there's a silent set of rules in some places.

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And if you dare to dress differently, you might be looked at sideways.

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Think about the spiritual disciplines. I don't know if that's a big thing anymore, but I know when I was in college, that was a big thing.

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Practicing the spiritual disciplines, and one of those was journaling. And if you don't journal, you're probably not saved. And again, there's nowhere in the

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Bible that says we need to journal. If you want to journal, go ahead. That's okay. Go for it.

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I think writing is grand. Do it as much as you can, as much as you want to. But do not impose that on other people.

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It does not make you a better Christian. What about taking notes in church during the sermon?

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There's a big one. I remember a time when I had a mindset when

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I'd look sideways if someone wasn't taking notes. And then after church, you'd get together with some people and say, you know, so -and -so wasn't taking notes.

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Yeah, I know. I don't know about that person. Okay, the conversations don't go exactly like that, but it happens.

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And I think there may even be some pastors who look down on people who don't take notes. And you know what?

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Just because someone's taking notes, it doesn't mean they are engaged in the sermon. It doesn't mean that they are drawing things out of the text and seeing things for themselves.

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It means they're writing down exactly what you're saying, and that is not learning. Some people might be taking notes because they're engaged.

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Others are taking notes because they think they're supposed to. And so it's not wrong to encourage people to take notes, but don't look down on those who don't.

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I know some very godly, very biblically literate people who weren't note -takers.

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It's okay. Because chances are,

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I'm not going to say a majority of the people sitting in your church taking notes, but there are a lot of people who are sitting there taking notes because they feel like they have to.

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They feel it's expected of them, and that they'll be judged if they don't. And they're just sitting there waiting for you to say, okay, point number three is blah blah blah blah, and they write it down.

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And they close that notebook, and they never look at it again, and it does not impact their brain or their lives because they weren't paying attention.

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They were just waiting for you to say point number three, point number four, write it down. Maybe write down a one -liner to tweet out later, because maybe the pastor will see the tweet and then he'll know

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I was listening. If we're honest, we realize these things are true.

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So don't look down on the person next to you just because they're not taking notes. Maybe that's not how they learn.

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I took a seminar at work years ago, and we learned about the different ways that people retain things.

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Some people, by doodling, you look at them and maybe they're drawing pictures instead of taking notes, but they're retaining.

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That's how their brain works. Other people maybe play with things.

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In the seminar, they had silly putty in front of us and pipe cleaners and described that we all think differently.

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Some of us have to keep our hands busy, and that's how we absorb. We're listening and we're absorbing and we can respond that way.

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And it's true. It's true. I can be sitting in a conference call and I'm playing with my thinking putty and I'm listening.

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I don't need to be taking notes on what everybody is saying or just sitting there stoically. I'm listening and I'm thinking things through, and then

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I can engage in the conversation. We all learn differently, so don't judge someone just because they're not taking notes.

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Maybe they are zoning out, but someone with a pen in their hand can be zoning out too. What about the whole idea of homeschooling?

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Just because someone in your church doesn't homeschool doesn't mean they're less spiritual than you if you homeschool.

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Do not impose these man -made rules on people, and I fear that we're seeing it in some doctrinally sound churches.

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And that is why I say we have a doctrinally sound legalism that has crept into the evangelical world and we figure because the church on paper has the right doctrines, then everything that they're doing is fine.

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But if that mindset is there, I'm here to tell you it's not healthy. It fosters spiritual pride.

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Because if you're the note -taker, and you're the homeschooler, and you're the one wearing the skirts that are so long you're stepping on them, you are looking down on those who are not doing things exactly the way you do them.

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May God forgive us for our spiritual pride, and may He break us of it. I've been there in different aspects, but I've been there.

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We've all probably been there in some way, shape, or form. We've experienced it on one side of the fence or the other.

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And so all of this to say, ladies, let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or homeschooling or note -taking or journaling.

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Christ is all. Christ is sufficient. Because when we add these rules, even if we say they aren't necessary for salvation, when we add these rules, we're saying

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Christ is not enough. Christ fulfilled the law. And these other things that weren't even part of the

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Old Testament law, they're just nonsensical. Christ didn't need to fulfill those, because they're just man -made.

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They're man -made. It's like our own little evangelical

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Roman Catholicism. Stop it. We need to stop it. And we just need to guard ourselves against any sort of spiritual pride for people who maybe do things a little bit differently.

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And again, this is not in regard to sinful behavior. And I think we all know where those lines are, don't we?

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If we're reading our scripture and we're in prayer, we understand where those lines are. We understand where those differences are between liberty and sin.

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And so let's just be mindful of this. And let's seek to have Christ be sufficient for all.

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Have Christ be sufficient for our salvation and for our sanctification.

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Anybody can keep rules. Anybody can follow an outline during a speech. Sanctification doesn't necessarily come from these things.

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If your conscience tells you that you need to homeschool your children, good.

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You do that. But maybe that other family in your church doesn't feel that conviction.

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Maybe they can't homeschool. That's okay, too. If they belong to Christ, Christ is sufficient for all, even if they send their children to public school.

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Okay, ladies. I think I've said more than I should have.

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Hopefully that wasn't too convoluted, too all over the place.

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Sometimes I fear I do that. But when

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I see something happening in the visible church that makes me sad or a little frustrated,

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I feel compelled to speak up in a biblical way.

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And so this is why I'm taking you to Scripture. And I'm saying, okay, maybe some churches are not saying to keep the

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Old Testament law, but they've made up their own laws. And that's even worse. And it may not be written down on paper, but if there's that mindset and there's that understanding that you'll be doing this, this, and this and it's not something that's a matter of salvation or a matter of sin, be careful.

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Just be careful. We all have a tendency toward pride in all areas of our lives, including our spiritual walk.

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And so let's be mindful of that and let's pray that God would keep us humble, especially in that area, and that He would grow us instead of us growing ourselves by maintaining the list of do's and don'ts.

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Alright, ladies, that's all for today. So until the next episode, get in your

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Bibles, get on your knees, and get equipped. Thanks for listening.

43:43

Is the church today doing everything it can to provide women a firm foundation of truth in Christ Jesus?

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Well, it's true, there's no shortage of candy -coated Bible studies, potluck fellowships available to ladies.

43:57

But beyond Sunday morning, are Christian women being properly equipped to stand against the same deceptions that even enticed

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Eve in the garden? In an attempt to address the need for trustworthy, biblical resources for women,

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No Compromise Radio is happy to introduce Equipping Eve, a ladies -only radio show that seeks to equip women with fruits of truth in an age that's ripe with deception.

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My name is Mike Ebendroth, and I'm pleased to introduce your host, Aaron Benzinger, a friend of No Compromise Radio, and a woman who wants to see other women equipped with a love for and a knowledge of the truth of God's Word.