- I am on the lookout for false teaching (Col 2:8):
- It takes Prisoners.
- It is Eempty.
- It is a Llie.
- It is from Man.
- It is Childish.
- It is NOT THE WAY OF JESUS CHRIST.
- I am looking unto Jesus Christ (Col 2:9-10):
- Because He is all God.
- Because we are all Complete in Him.
- Because He Rules over all.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
-
00:00-00:01
Let's pray.
00:02-00:10
Father in heaven, as we've taken an offering, Father, we realize we're just giving you back what you gave to us in the first place.
00:12-00:12
It's all yours.
00:13-00:16
Your word tells us that the earth is the Lord's and the fullness therein.
00:16-00:22
Father, it's all yours, and we are blessed to be able to give back to you.
00:25-00:27
Father, I pray for our children as they're offering children to ministry.
00:28-00:37
This is a time as the adults and the young adults are in the Word here, we know that the children are in your Word just across the hall.
00:37-00:43
So I pray for our workers, from nursery on up, Father, to glorify your name and our children to this day.
00:45-00:53
And I pray, Father, that there will be ears to hear as we get into your Word this morning.
00:54-00:59
It's not about what I think, it's about what you think.
01:01-01:08
And I pray that we would just let the light of your truth penetrate our hearts.
01:14-01:15
Father, glorify your name.
01:18-01:19
We pray in Christ.
01:27-01:34
Have you ever just gotten suckered into something?
01:36-01:38
Have you? I see some of you are smiling.
01:38-01:40
Have you ever gotten suckered into something?
01:41-01:43
Or scammed, I guess.
01:44-01:46
Maybe that's a more politically correct word.
01:48-02:20
I'm going to tell you of us have been there at one point or another.
02:21-02:33
I started this list last night, and I just had to stop at all the times that I've either been suckered or somebody attempted to sucker me.
02:36-02:42
One of them was I got an email that said I won this watch on eBay, a $300 watch.
02:43-02:45
And I'm like, I didn't bid on a watch.
02:46-02:54
Well, it says, you know, this transaction's going to go through, so hurry up and send your information to this email address so we can stop the transaction.
02:54-02:58
So I'm mad, I'm like, I didn't hit on this function, I'm typing all this stuff in, and then I'm like,
02:59-03:00
(imitates buzzer)
03:00-03:06
I'm typing all this stuff in to send to somebody who's going to have all my information.
03:07-03:09
I almost got suckered that time.
03:10-03:11
Almost, but not quite.
03:12-03:14
Here's a time that I really did get suckered.
03:14-03:16
Aaron and I laugh about this quite a bit.
03:18-03:22
Back in my old church, there was this lady that lived up the street that said she needed help moving.
03:24-03:29
And we were North Street Christian Church slash moving company, I suppose it was.
03:29-03:32
But I thought, you know, I do all things for the sake of the gospel.
03:32-03:40
I'm going to go help move her and I'm going to get an opportunity to share the gospel with her, or at least invite her to church or something, right?
03:41-03:44
So I was having my usual back problems that day.
03:45-03:50
She was moving out of an apartment that was down three flights of steps.
03:50-03:54
And the new place she was moving was up three or four flights of steps.
03:54-03:59
And I just had this little Jeep at the time and I was putting a bunch of boxes in and taking it over.
03:59-04:03
And the whole thing was just something I was sitting on.
04:03-04:07
First of all, every box in black Sharpie on the outside said underwear.
04:09-04:10
Every box.
04:10-04:12
And I didn't ask.
04:12-04:18
I didn't ask, I didn't ask, but I'm thinking like you are, what's somebody doing with this much underwear, right?
04:19-04:20
Every box.
04:20-04:25
Well, as I'm moving, her husband's just sitting there kind of watching, and I wasn't too thrilled about that.
04:25-04:28
I'm like, grab some underwear, sheep, we're moving.
04:29-04:34
And so finally, I'm like, okay, I get it.
04:34-04:36
I do all things for the sake of the gospel.
04:36-05:07
And we're going up the steps of like, you know, whatever trip. And I said, "So do you go to church anywhere?" She goes, "Oh, yeah, I go to a church in Worthington." I'm like, "Oh, why is it your church you're going?" And she said, and I quote, "I could never ask my pastor. He's way too busy.
05:08-05:11
And besides, he has a bad back.
05:12-05:13
(audience laughs)
05:16-05:19
So I'm like, sayonara underwear, extra point.
05:19-05:20
No, I didn't do that.
05:21-05:24
I finished helping her out, I said have a nice day.
05:25-05:31
But like those old cartoons, you ever seen the old cartoons when their head turns into a lollipop and it says sucker?
05:31-05:32
You ever see that?
05:32-05:32
Oh, you saw that?
05:33-05:33
That happened to me.
05:34-05:42
As soon as she said that, I was like, I'm like, "Wow." I could go on and on and on.
05:42-05:51
Do you ever get the email from the African widow whose husband died and she just needs a bank account in the States to send the $2 million?
05:52-05:53
Do you ever get that email?
05:53-05:55
I get those all the time, all right?
05:57-06:01
Let me tell you how lucky I am, speaking of scams.
06:02-06:06
I've been the 10,000th visitor on like 30 different websites.
06:07-06:08
You know, did you ever get that?
06:08-06:09
"Dude, you're the 10,000th visitor!
06:10-06:12
You want an iPad!" Do you know how many iPads I've won?
06:13-06:17
I got like a closet in my house that's just full of the iPads.
06:17-06:18
Obviously not, it's a scam.
06:19-06:24
But I'm constantly getting these alerts that I've won all these iPads.
06:25-06:26
Ridiculous.
06:26-06:27
Scamming going on.
06:27-06:29
One of my favorites didn't even happen to me.
06:29-06:33
I was, for some reason, this was a couple years ago, We had Judge Judy on.
06:33-06:34
You like Judge Judy?
06:35-06:50
Judge Judy was on, and this person took this other person to court because they bid on this, what was it, $200 or $300 cell phone or something on eBay, and what they were mailed was a picture of a cell phone.
06:51-06:55
And the defendant's defense, that's what the auction was for.
06:56-06:59
Like, the auction was for a picture of a cell phone.
07:01-07:01
Right.
07:02-07:02
Scam.
07:03-07:05
Anybody want to guess how that case was ruled?
07:05-07:05
Anyone?
07:07-07:07
Anyone?
07:08-07:09
Jessica is the plaintiff.
07:10-07:11
And she got her money back.
07:11-07:12
Scam.
07:12-07:13
I hate scams.
07:13-07:14
I hate yelling sucker.
07:15-07:18
And as we get into God's Word today, here's a huge warning.
07:18-07:19
Turn to Colossians chapter 2.
07:20-07:22
That's actually what the warning is about today.
07:24-07:25
Colossians chapter 2.
07:25-07:30
You know, scamming, getting suckered, getting taken advantage of.
07:30-07:32
Nothing new under the sun.
07:33-07:38
God's Word, in this passage we're looking at today, warns us against this very thing.
07:41-07:52
Colossians 2.8, "See to it that no one takes you captive." Okay, so this is two things.
07:52-07:56
This is a command, and this is a warning.
07:57-08:02
This is "Watch out." I'm warning you, and it's a command.
08:03-08:06
You need to be on the lookout for some things, okay?
08:09-08:18
What we're going to see is you can get suckered by adopting a wrong philosophy or a wrong worldview.
08:19-08:23
The truth is everyone in this room is a philosopher.
08:24-08:27
Everyone in here is a philosopher.
08:27-08:29
Jayna, are you a philosopher?
08:29-08:34
Of course you are. Of course you are, Sammy. Of course you are.
08:36-08:55
We're philosophers. In the heart of every man and woman, I meant that in a few different times, you get that right? In the heart of every person, there's more than this.
08:56-08:59
There's more to life than what we can see.
08:59-09:02
There's gotta be something else out there.
09:02-09:03
That's philosophy.
09:03-09:06
Everybody has a belief or a view about that.
09:08-09:15
You see, you have a way of taking life and death and the purpose of life and the meaning of life.
09:16-09:23
You have a way of putting all of that together in your mind in a way that makes sense to you, right?
09:25-09:28
Now, they might be different from person to person here.
09:28-09:30
We're looking to change that.
09:31-09:37
But the truth is, everybody has taken the entirety of life experience and constructed what's called a worldview.
09:39-09:42
Like, this is how this all sort of fits together in my mind.
09:42-09:43
This is how it makes sense in the world.
09:45-09:46
And here's the problem.
09:48-09:50
None of us live in a vacuum.
09:53-10:01
Every single person is influenced by someone or something into how to think.
10:04-10:06
Something is shaping the way that we think.
10:08-10:09
Something is.
10:10-10:15
If you're sitting here going, "Well, nobody tells me what to think." Well, guess who's shaping the way you think?
10:15-10:17
In one sense, you are.
10:18-10:22
But in another sense, somewhere you picked up that philosophy No one should tell you how to think.
10:24-10:25
So you got that from somewhere.
10:27-10:28
None of us live in a vacuum.
10:29-10:36
Every single day, every single day, think about this, we are bombarded.
10:38-10:40
We are bombarded.
10:40-10:41
Think this way.
10:42-10:43
Here's what life is like.
10:43-10:44
Here's how you should think about events.
10:45-10:46
Here's what's going on in the news.
10:46-10:48
Here's how we make sense of this.
10:48-10:49
Think this way, think about this.
10:49-10:50
Think about it that way.
10:50-10:52
Think about it from my point of view.
10:54-10:56
And how do we sort through all this stuff?
10:58-10:59
What's true?
11:00-11:00
What's a lie?
11:02-11:03
What's a set of figures?
11:06-11:09
Well, we get hit with a barrage of sources, don't we?
11:10-11:12
A barrage of sources.
11:14-11:15
Write these down.
11:16-11:16
Just kidding.
11:16-11:26
MSNBC, Fox News, Talk Radio, Sports Radio, the view, the talk, talk, suit, Pollywood, the preacher, church, the preacher on TV, commercials, magazines, billboards, the Da Vinci Code, remember that?
11:28-11:30
Zeitgeist, did you ever see that?
11:31-11:42
Astrology, psychology, Bill Maher, David Letterman, Joel Osteen, Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, the doctors, newspapers, email snopes, The Onion, Facebook, Twitter, MTV, country music, lyrics.
11:42-11:47
Do you see all these sources are saying, here's what to think, here's what to think, here's how you should think?
11:48-11:51
They're all promoting a worldview.
11:54-11:57
So from a barrage of sources, we get a barrage of philosophies.
11:58-11:59
And if it feels good, do it.
11:59-12:01
Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you.
12:01-12:03
Life is precious, life is a cosmic accident.
12:04-12:06
There is no God, there's only one God, there's several Gods.
12:06-12:09
We gotta try to make the Gods happy.
12:09-12:11
Or we have to make the God happy.
12:12-12:13
God cannot be made happy.
12:14-12:15
Our religions are the same.
12:15-12:16
Our religion is the only one.
12:16-12:17
There is one truth.
12:17-12:21
There is no such thing as absolute truth. God helps those who help themselves.
12:22-12:24
It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you're sincere.
12:24-12:27
Marriage is sacred. Marriage is just a piece of paper.
12:28-12:29
God doesn't love us or he would stop evil.
12:30-12:31
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
12:32-12:34
You are our God and we are all Gods. We will become Gods.
12:34-12:37
We die and cease to exist. We die and go to heaven.
12:37-12:40
We die and go to a heaven or a hell. We don't know what happens when we die.
12:42-12:42
Right?
12:43-12:48
Do you realize we're bombarded by these things every day?
12:49-12:49
[Aww]
12:52-12:55
That was like a payment for the school I paid.
13:00-13:01
Every day.
13:01-13:06
These philosophers and philosophies are trying to help you make sense of the world.
13:08-13:15
But here's the problem, when we buy into wrong philosophies, we become captive to them.
13:17-13:19
What do you mean by becoming captive to them?
13:19-13:27
Well, we get suckered into a skewed view of the world.
13:29-13:35
How many people are listening to Howard Stern on the radio and letting his opinions and his philosophy shape the way we think?
13:39-14:09
How many people are buying into conservative talk radio or, you know, when we were in Chicago, there was liberal talk radio. And my thinking is shaped by this, suckered into a skewed view of the world. The philosophies are out looking for people to buy in. Once you see What do you mean by that?
14:10-14:12
Here's a couple more examples.
14:14-14:24
Did you ever notice that when archaeologists find a bone anywhere, we dug up this bone, what's their immediate conclusion?
14:26-14:31
Their immediate conclusion, as soon as they find any piece of any bone anywhere, what's their immediate conclusion?
14:32-14:40
found the what? The missing link. We found it! How many of those have just turned out to be complete noses?
14:42-14:48
Do a little research on that. Another one, how about every Easter? It happens at Christmas too, it happened last night.
14:49-15:00
But write this down. Every Easter, Newsweek, Time Magazine, the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, They're all going to come out with something like the real Jesus, right?
15:02-15:05
He wasn't at all really what we read and hear.
15:06-15:08
Here's the real Jesus.
15:11-15:13
And their basis for that is what?
15:15-15:16
Yeah, I don't know either.
15:17-15:20
Secular university professors talking about the nonsense of the Bible.
15:21-15:24
TV shows normalizing illicit sexual relations.
15:24-15:26
That's just the way it is.
15:27-15:29
A day of political correctness.
15:30-15:35
Philosophies that get people to question, doubt, or deny the Word of God.
15:38-15:44
Their goal is that any thought about seeking the Lord or seeking the truth is now hostage.
15:45-15:46
I'm not sure what to believe.
15:48-15:52
I bought into a reason to disbelieve the Bible.
15:54-15:55
Well, enough of that.
15:55-15:56
Let's get to God's Word.
15:57-15:59
Do you know what the number one warning is in the New Testament?
15:59-16:00
Do you know?
16:00-16:02
The number one warning in the New Testament?
16:03-16:03
False teaching.
16:05-16:06
Number one warning.
16:06-16:07
Look out for false teaching.
16:08-16:12
That's what prompted, from a human perspective, that's what prompted the writing of much of the New Testament.
16:14-16:15
We talked about this.
16:15-16:16
That's why Colossians was written.
16:17-16:21
False teaching was coming and Paul's like, "I'm going to get ahead of it." Why did he write Galatians?
16:22-16:22
False teaching was coming.
16:22-16:26
He was a Christian teaching has happened, you've got to deal with it.
16:27-16:29
False teaching constantly.
16:31-16:32
We are being warned against it.
16:32-16:39
In this section here, we're going to be looking at just three verses, but I kind of liken it to a police sketch artist.
16:39-16:43
You know, when crime happens, they're like, can you describe what the guy looked like?
16:44-16:45
And they draw that, and they draw the picture.
16:45-16:47
That's kind of what's happening here.
16:48-16:51
Paul says, look out for false philosophies.
16:52-16:53
Here's what they look like.
16:55-16:56
All right, so we're gonna be doing just that.
16:57-17:03
We're on the lookout, I'm gonna get the picture down, so when we see it, we're gonna know.
17:04-17:08
The Colossian heresy that was coming basically boiled down to this.
17:10-17:21
If you want salvation, you have to receive Jesus and ceremonialism, ritualism, worship of angels, asceticism, and they had all these other things you have to add to Jesus.
17:22-17:24
Paul's point is there's nothing you can't add to Jesus.
17:25-17:27
Covered that very thoroughly in chapter one.
17:28-17:31
So on your outline, I am on the lookout for Paul's teaching.
17:31-17:32
Look at verse eight.
17:34-17:43
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit.
17:45-17:53
According to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ.
17:54-17:55
I'm gonna go through these rather quickly.
17:55-17:56
There's a lot here, all right?
17:57-18:03
1A, what does false teaching look like?
18:05-18:09
Well, the first thing you need to be on the lookout is this, it takes prisoners.
18:10-18:11
It takes prisoners.
18:15-18:24
This word in the Greek, he says, "takes you captive." That's actually a unique word in the Greek.
18:24-18:27
Literally, it means to carry off booty, like a pirate.
18:28-18:34
You know, literally it means I swoop in, I grab the treasure, and I run.
18:34-18:36
Or another way you can think of it is kidnapping.
18:37-18:50
Okay, and he says, "See to it, be on the lookout, "be warned that you're not kidnapped." Bondage comes when we bite the hook.
18:51-18:54
We buy the lie and become devoted to it.
18:55-18:56
See, that's the warning here.
18:56-19:09
When we adopt a false philosophy, a false teaching, when we buy in the things that are contrary to God's word, we become in bondage to them.
19:10-19:12
I have to be a part of this group.
19:12-19:14
I have to adhere to these rules.
19:14-19:19
My spirituality has to be fulfilled by me doing all these things.
19:21-19:24
When I keep the rules, I'm in good standing with God.
19:24-19:26
When I don't keep the rules, God is out to get me.
19:28-19:29
Folks, that's bondage.
19:31-19:36
Constantly looking over your shoulder, am I doing everything exactly right?
19:36-19:37
Will this appease God?
19:41-19:44
This is why people are so hesitant to leave a cult.
19:44-19:44
Did you know that?
19:45-19:49
Do you wonder why more people don't see the truth of God's word and just come flying in?
19:49-19:52
How many times have you witnessed, or a Jehovah's Witness, or a Mormon?
19:52-19:53
I mean, I have.
19:53-20:02
And you think, "Well, they've got to see this. They've got to see this." I was going to say they're brainwashed, but they're not brainwashed.
20:02-20:03
They need brainwashed.
20:04-20:07
Their brain dirty.
20:09-20:09
Okay?
20:09-20:19
They bought into the fact that unless I'm part of these teachings at this particular religious organization, I'm out of God's will.
20:22-20:37
That's why the university professor, 93 year old university professor that I knew, When we talked about the Word of God, when we talked about creation science, he would even say, "You know what?
20:39-20:54
You've got some things that I can't refute." But he wasn't about to jump into the Bible and embrace God's Word, because he has built his life on believing a lie.
20:57-21:00
Listen, you don't have to go to a cult to be captive.
21:02-21:11
There are people sitting here today, I'm sure, that feel captive, or are prone to captivity.
21:14-21:16
Are you tired of wondering if God has accepted you?
21:21-21:25
Are you tired of wondering if maybe you and God have a rocky relationship?
21:27-21:28
Captivity can come that way.
21:30-21:35
Are you tired of wondering if you're keeping the rules, or keeping the right rules, or keeping enough rules?
21:36-21:39
I encourage you, get God's Word yourself and see what it says.
21:39-21:40
And that's what we're here to help you do.
21:42-21:48
But don't be held bondage to a false philosophy.
21:48-21:53
Listen, even a false philosophy might be somewhat based on the Word of God.
21:53-21:54
We'll talk about that in a second.
21:56-21:57
So look out.
21:59-22:00
Here's the problem.
22:00-22:02
It takes prisoners, and here's what it looks like.
22:02-22:04
Secondly, it's empty.
22:06-22:07
It's empty.
22:09-22:12
Nobody thinks you're captive by philosophy.
22:13-22:17
And empty, the seed, it's empty.
22:18-22:19
You know what that reminds me of?
22:21-22:22
Remember when you were a kid?
22:23-22:23
Easter basket.
22:24-22:25
Here's not my house.
22:25-22:29
There was always a big chunk of money, like one of the big ones right in the middle of the basket.
22:29-22:35
There's all the colorful stuff, these stickers and all the little bit lesser important stuff.
22:35-22:40
At least when I was a kid, I remember they had to give me the basket that had the big chunk of money right in the middle.
22:41-22:43
And you know what I went for, right?
22:43-22:45
Give me that money.
22:45-22:48
and I take that bunny out of the box, and this happens sometimes.
22:49-22:51
I take a bite and it's hollow.
22:52-22:53
Rip off!
22:53-22:54
Never happened to you?
22:54-22:56
Like my parents don't love me.
22:57-22:58
(audience laughing)
22:59-23:00
The bunny is hollow.
23:00-23:03
And you see, that's what a lot of false teaching is like.
23:03-23:04
It looks good.
23:05-23:06
It looks real good.
23:06-23:08
But then you take a big bite of it.
23:09-23:10
I don't eat chocolate bunnies anymore, don't worry.
23:11-23:16
But you take a big bite of it, and there's no substance.
23:18-23:20
You see, our faith has substance.
23:21-23:22
Our faith has substance.
23:23-23:25
Our faith is based on the word of God.
23:26-23:26
We have history.
23:27-23:28
We have archeology.
23:29-23:30
We have science.
23:30-23:31
We have predictive prophecy.
23:33-23:34
Study these things.
23:36-23:38
This is not a fairy tale that we are hiding behind.
23:39-23:43
This is the truth of God's word that has a firm foundation that we can build on.
23:43-23:44
There's reason to believe.
23:46-23:48
When I first came to Christ, that was my first crisis.
23:49-23:51
I'm like, really, this is true?
23:52-24:00
And I dedicated my life to discovering, is what this book says, is this reliable?
24:01-24:03
This is based on truth.
24:05-24:10
And the word of God is about a thousand after 16 years of study.
24:14-24:16
But you need to examine when something is back going.
24:17-24:22
A lot of philosophy is empty, John Lennon's "Job Bunnies." Actually, it is a lie. It is a lie.
24:25-24:27
See that empty deceit?
24:29-24:33
Now this is deceptive because Satan's way is to take an element of truth and put a lie in it.
24:33-24:34
That's how Satan works.
24:36-24:41
around the corner and try to get you to swallow a big fat whopper.
24:41-24:42
That's not how he works.
24:42-24:49
What he does is he'll take an element of truth and weave a lie into it so that it's disguised.
24:50-24:51
It's like rat poison.
24:52-24:55
You know that rat poison is like 90% cornmeal.
24:55-24:56
Did you know that?
24:58-24:58
Cornmeal.
25:00-25:00
Harmless.
25:02-25:03
So what's the problem?
25:03-25:05
The problem is that little percent.
25:06-25:06
It's not working.
25:07-25:08
That's how Satan works.
25:09-25:09
All right?
25:11-25:15
How many cults use the Bible as their quote, source of authority, but they twist the message?
25:16-25:25
Jehovah's Witnesses denying the divinity of Jesus Christ, denying the doctrine of hell, teaching that everyone's redeemed, everyone's going to heaven.
25:27-25:33
The Mormon Church also denying the divinity of Jesus Christ, denying the final authority of the Bible.
25:35-25:37
They were just saying they're based on the Bible.
25:38-25:40
Do a little study, they're radically different.
25:40-25:42
Don't be held captive, don't be taken captive.
25:45-25:52
The next problem with false teaching, notice next here it says, "According to human tradition," on your outline, I just have, it's for man.
25:53-25:54
It is for man.
25:56-25:57
And he's not talking about family traditions.
25:59-26:01
Like, you know, grandma comes out on Christmas.
26:01-26:04
Like, here's our traditional Christmas ham.
26:04-26:05
And you're like, "Grandma!
26:06-26:10
"Pastor Jeff just warned us about tradition!" That's not what he's talking about.
26:11-26:12
That is not what he's talking about.
26:13-26:20
He's talking about God is angered when people hold on to man-made tradition that contradicts God's word.
26:21-26:21
Don't believe me?
26:21-26:23
Read Matthew chapter 23.
26:23-26:24
Just go ahead and read that.
26:24-26:26
See what Jesus thinks about that.
26:27-26:29
God is fired up about that.
26:29-26:32
Or people say, well, I know what the Bible says.
26:32-26:34
Our church has this tradition.
26:34-26:38
And yeah, it's not exactly biblical, but it's the tradition of our church that we're holding onto.
26:44-26:56
One of the questions I get asked about a lot, people ask me, well, if the Catholic church uses the same Bible that we do, why are their beliefs so radically different?
26:57-27:00
The priest will tell you this, because they have two sources of authority.
27:00-27:06
I would say, we have one, the Word of God, and the priest will tell you that they have two sources of authority.
27:06-27:12
It's the Bible and it's church tradition or tradition of man.
27:13-27:23
See, that's where my caution is, is that when the tradition of man supersedes strict, forward teaching from God's Word.
27:25-27:27
And the last thing, it is childish.
27:28-27:29
It is childish.
27:29-27:36
He says, "According to the elemental spirits of the world," I'm sorry, this is next to the last issue.
27:37-27:38
This is childish.
27:38-27:40
The elemental spirits of the world.
27:40-27:42
What in the world is he talking about there?
27:43-27:51
Well, that Greek word for elementary principles literally is talking about letters of the alphabet, meaning things in a row.
27:54-28:02
In cross-reference Galatians chapter 4, verse 3, the same thing as Jews, what it's talking about is simplistic, silly, childish stuff.
28:03-28:04
It's childish.
28:06-28:07
It's childish.
28:10-28:27
Somebody very close to me who actually grew up in church has embraced paganism, but one of the things that he believes is that this earth was once a giant that was slain by the gods, and now we dwell on the corpse of a giant.
28:29-28:31
That's like childish stuff.
28:31-28:33
That's like something you'd watch on D-Day or something.
28:34-28:34
Okay?
28:35-28:36
Childish.
28:37-28:53
What he's talking about is when you come to maturity of God's word, and see, this is mature spiritual thinking, and then you retreat back to one of these Mickey Mouse It's like getting accepted to Grove City and showing up at preschool.
28:54-28:55
That's a huge step backwards.
28:58-28:59
It's childish.
29:01-29:08
Last, certainly not least, I would say, the icing on the cake, it is not the way of Jesus Christ.
29:10-29:11
And not according to Christ.
29:12-29:14
Here's the biggest problem. It's not the way of Jesus.
29:15-29:16
It's not the way of Jesus.
29:17-29:19
It's just not the way of Jesus Christ.
29:19-29:21
It all boils down to this.
29:21-29:24
This stuff is not the way Jesus works.
29:24-29:47
So, God's answer to psychology, philosophy, legalism, religion, spirituality, tradition, And all the questions that we will ever face about life, what's the answer?
29:51-29:54
Do you realize that this was God's answer?
29:56-30:08
Living in a world enveloped by the power of sin and lies and deceit and cunning, crafty voices.
30:10-30:12
This was God's answer.
30:17-30:18
Where did you come up with that?
30:19-30:20
Well, this will be verse 9.
30:23-30:40
Under our line, "I am looking unto Jesus Christ." I'm looking up, or Paul's teaching, "I'm looking unto Jesus Christ." "In Him, the whole fullness of deity wells." That's what Christmas is all about.
30:40-30:42
We're going to be celebrating Christmas next week.
30:42-30:43
I really hope you can make it out.
30:43-30:46
We're going to do a little cafe setting down at the cafeteria.
30:47-30:49
Sammy and Laura are going to lead us in some Christmas carols.
30:49-30:51
I'm going to share a little message from Cosmo.
30:51-30:53
We're going to have a dinner with some coffee and fellowship.
30:53-30:55
Just a fun time together.
30:56-30:58
I really hope that you can make it out.
30:59-31:00
Because this is what we're celebrating.
31:03-31:19
The fact that God, transcendent God, said I'm going to give the ultimate answer on all things for all time by showing up.
31:21-31:23
Psalm 115 verse 3 says our God is in the heavens.
31:23-31:25
He does whatever he pleases.
31:25-31:27
You realize God could have done whatever He wanted.
31:27-31:30
Could God have come to the earth just like straight out of heaven?
31:31-31:31
Could He?
31:32-31:36
Could He have just been like, "Here I am." Could He have done that?
31:36-31:37
Of course He could.
31:38-31:39
God does whatever He pleases.
31:39-31:44
Could God have come to the earth as an adult man?
31:45-31:50
Like one day, like Peter and Andrew out fishing, and just like, "Whoop!" this man shows up out of nowhere.
31:53-31:54
He could have.
31:55-32:00
In fact, there were times in the Old Testament that Jesus did show up.
32:01-32:03
He was the fourth man in the fire.
32:04-32:04
Right?
32:06-32:15
But when it came to coming to a hope for salvation, what did God do?
32:18-32:20
The Holy Spirit conceived of a woman.
32:21-32:37
She gave birth to a child who is 100% God, seen by the Holy Spirit, but also 100% human being.
32:39-32:40
That's the mystery of the Incarnation.
32:43-32:49
Jesus is both fully God and fully man.
32:49-32:51
That's what Paul reminds us of here.
32:52-32:56
So with all these influences on us, where do we keep our eyes?
32:56-32:57
We keep our eyes on Jesus.
32:58-32:58
Why?
33:00-33:04
For in Him, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.
33:05-33:09
And you have been filled in Him who is the head of all rule and authority.
33:10-33:12
I'm looking unto Jesus Christ.
33:12-33:12
Where are you looking?
33:16-33:18
Well, why are you looking unto Jesus Christ?
33:18-33:19
Well, drop the "e" and look at the "e".
33:19-33:21
he's done, first of all, because he is all God.
33:22-33:23
He is all God.
33:24-33:33
Jesus wasn't just this really religious person or the greatest philosopher of all time or some religious leader.
33:36-33:42
Everything that God is is abiding in Jesus Christ.
33:44-33:44
Isn't that amazing?
33:46-33:56
That's why John says, "We beheld his glory the only begotten of the Father. We saw Jesus. We saw who? We saw God the Father.
33:57-34:14
Jesus even said that. He said, "If you've seen me, you have what? You've seen the Father." "Well, just show us the Father. Show us the Father. That'll be good." You know, Jesus, "Just show us the Father." Jesus said, "You're looking at Him." If you've seen me, you've seen the Father.
34:17-34:18
He is all God.
34:19-34:21
That's good news.
34:21-34:24
Everything we need to know about the Father we find in Jesus Christ.
34:27-34:29
Truthful, compassionate, merciful, patient.
34:30-34:35
You can wonder if God the Father is any of those things, but we see all of those things fully in Jesus Christ.
34:35-34:36
Perfectly represented.
34:37-34:40
Secondly, because we are all complete in Him.
34:42-34:44
We are all complete in Him.
34:44-34:49
Because of sin, by nature, we are incomplete.
34:50-34:52
We're incomplete spiritually.
34:52-34:53
We're out of fellowship with God.
34:53-34:54
We're incomplete morally.
34:54-34:55
We're outside of God's will.
34:58-34:59
We're incomplete mentally.
35:00-35:01
We don't know divine truth.
35:03-35:04
God's answer?
35:10-35:22
"You have been filled in him." That word "filled" is the same word back in verse 9 where it says, "The whole fullness of deity." It's the same word.
35:26-35:48
The deity completely filled Jesus Christ and in the same way he turned around and said, "Jesus Christ completely fills you." What that means is you can't walk around saying, "You know, I have a little bit of a Holy Spirit in me." No, man, you either do or you don't.
35:51-35:54
You know, I go to church sometimes, I think I just have a little bit of a holy spirit hung up on me.
35:55-35:59
If you're in Christ, He completely indwells you.
36:00-36:03
Just as God, the Father, completely indwelled Him.
36:03-36:04
Same word.
36:06-36:07
Jesus is completely gone.
36:07-36:09
You're completely in Him.
36:09-36:10
Last thing.
36:12-36:13
Because He rules over all.
36:15-36:18
Who is the head of all rule and authority.
36:34-36:53
I'm going to tell you I'm going to ask our worship team to come forward.
36:55-37:00
In just a moment, we're going to be taking the Lord's Supper together.
37:09-37:11
It's sort of hard when you look at the picture of the baby.
37:13-37:30
Start playing that out in your mind and think, the purpose for that baby to come was ultimately to accomplish what we are about to remember, to learn suffering.
37:33-37:46
Jesus came, God became a man, and Jesus said, "Here's something that I want you to do to remember me.
37:49-37:55
Remember that my physical body was broken.
38:01-38:09
Remember, my blood was shed for your sin.
38:12-38:21
So I know as our hearts go towards activity scenes, major scenes, and the incarnation.
38:21-38:24
Absolutely true, absolutely they should during this time of year.
38:27-38:32
But always remember the purpose of Christmas is ultimately Easter.
38:35-38:38
Death, burial, and resurrection.
38:40-38:41
Jesus Christ.
38:42-38:43
Be magnified.
38:47-38:48
Father in Heaven.
38:57-38:59
I pray for this church.
39:05-39:21
Whether there are people just visiting today, people that have been faithfully coming, people who call this church their home or the people that like to be passing through.
39:23-39:24
But I pray for people in this room.
39:26-39:33
God, you know, we live in a world that we are just constantly getting lines read to us every single day.
39:35-39:38
About what to think about us, about what to think about you.
39:41-39:44
Sadly, too many people being taken captive.
39:47-39:51
They're in bondage to a world view that isn't from you.
39:59-40:00
Dear God, today I pray for liberty.
40:03-40:14
That as we take the Lord's Supper together, we are reminded that Christ died to set us free.
40:20-40:30
And that we find that being slaves to righteousness versus being slaves to sin, we find freedom in you.
40:34-40:58
We find freedom in knowing that we don't have to try to amaze you, we don't have to try to make you happy, we don't have to try to do enough things that you will finally accept this to know that you do accept this because of the power of the atonement that was made by your son. That's for you.
41:01-41:04
Father, I pray that you would keep the warning in front of us always.
41:05-41:14
As soon as we leave here, people are going to be Fading lines, contradicting your world.
41:17-41:18
Guard our hearts and minds.
41:21-41:22
And they will take us back.
41:27-41:30
We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
41:32-41:32
Amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Colossians 2:8-10
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.