Well, as I mentioned earlier, today is the first Sunday of Advent, a word which means coming or arrival. The first Sunday before we celebrate a date that is widely regarded as the date when Jesus Christ arrived or came into this world as the Messiah. It is, therefore, a time of celebration of the incarnation of Jesus Christ, one of the great, maybe the greatest doctrine, I don't know which is the greatest doctrine in the Bible, but surely the doctrine of the incarnation of Jesus Christ has got to be very close to the top of the list as we consider the most magnificent and most important doctrines in all the Word of God. And when we come to Advent season, it is our custom here at this church to devote most of the month of December to incarnation messages, incarnation texts, and there are so many of them. And even after 50 years, I don't think we've exhausted all of them, but there are many of them, starting in the Old Testament with the prophetic texts which announce ahead of time the promise of the arrival of the Messiah, moving into the early books of the New Testament, the Gospels, wherein we find in two of them an account of the birth of Jesus Christ and in others of them the account of his life and ministry and death and resurrection and return to heaven, and all of that speaks about the incarnation of Christ. And then finally, throughout the epistles, there are many, many, many texts that refer to the incarnation of Christ, and we are looking at one of them today in Colossians 2, verse 9, which is perhaps one of the shortest. It simply says, For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, but it is maybe one of the fullest of these doctrinal texts, and it is certainly one of the most instructive. And so that's the one we are going to look at today, the mystery of Christmas, if you want to use that language, where we learn about God in a human body, the real meaning of this time of celebration that comes at the end of the calendar every year.
And so again, Colossians 2, 9, For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Let's consider this in three parts. Number one, the reason for the declaration. Number two, the magnificence of this revelation. And number three, the mystery of the incarnation. The reason for this declaration, for verse 9, is indeed a declaration.
Paul writing by the Spirit of God says, For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. A short declaration, a powerful declaration, but what is the reason for this declaration being found in this particular epistle, at this particular juncture in Paul's epistle to the Colossians? And for that, of course, we have to move back into the pre-deceiting context. This text is not disassociated with what comes before it, but is actually very much a continuation, a fulfillment of what has gone before.
That word for indicates that. I have told you this, I've told you that, I've told you the other, there's a reason why I'm telling you these things, here it is. For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. So what are some of these statements that precede our text that calls for this declaration, the reason for the declaration? Well, it is a declaration, first of all, to aid us in our assurance of truth, assurance of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. For that we move back in chapter 2, 2 verses 1 and 2, where Paul says, For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh. Paul is writing to a church that he has never visited. He's writing to a church that he did not found. He's writing to a church where the majority of the members have never met him.
They've never seen him face to face, to those who have not seen my face in the flesh. There are perhaps two or three members of this church that Paul has become personally acquainted with because they traveled to Ephesus and met Paul there and heard the gospel there and became followers of Jesus Christ there under the ministry of the apostle Paul and were trained there as Paul set up that school of training in the city of Ephesus and then went back to Colossae and, in the providence of God, established a church. That was a major city in the Roman Empire.
Not far from Colossae there was Laodicea. Again, we don't know any of the details, but another church was established in Laodicea in that same region. Paul is writing to those churches and he has them in mind, but they have never met him. He knows about them.
He receives reports about them. He is concerned for their spiritual welfare. He says in verse 2 that their hearts may be encouraged.
That is the hearts of the members of the church at Colossae and Laodicea and also Hierapolis was a third city which had, evidently, a church planted there or at least in the process of becoming a full-fledged church in that city. And Paul says that their hearts, it's interesting as you read through this passage how Paul moves back and forth from third person to first person pronouns. Here it is their hearts, those people that I've never met that have never met me in the flesh, but often times he uses terms like we and us to include himself in what he is saying. But here he says, verse 2 again of chapter 2, that their hearts may be encouraged, knit together in love and attaining to all the riches, and here it is, of the full assurance of understanding to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ. Now working our way maybe backwards through that verse, we see at the end that Paul is making reference here to the Incarnation.
It's not as conspicuous in verse 2 as it is in our text, but that's what he's talking about. When he talks about the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, it is this mystery that God the Son became a man, but he is fully God. He and the Father are one God, two persons, and of course the third person, the Holy Spirit, not specifically mentioned in this text, but he too part of the Godhead, the word that is used in our text, for in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead, some versions say deity, but Godhead, the word that is chosen there to identify God, not as a singular God, though he is one God, but in the triunity of his persons. If you run into someone, as you probably will at some point or another, who wants to argue about the doctrine of the Trinity, that there's one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, they may say to you, but the word Trinity is not found anywhere in the Bible.
Immediately agree with them, it's not. But what does Godhead mean? Godhead is found in the Bible.
It doesn't spell out three specifically, as the word Trinity does, but it spells out a plurality in this one God, in this unity, not God, but the Godhead, the plurality of persons in this mysterious God, three persons in one, the Trinity. So Paul is making reference to that in verse two, and he links our understanding of this mystery of the Godhead to our firm assurance of our faith in Christ and of our knowledge of truth. It requires at least some reasonable understanding of this truth, the mystery of the Godhead, or this truth, if you want to go further, the incarnation of the second person of the Trinity and who he is, this one that we call our Savior. And to have full assurance, strong assurance of our faith in Christ, strong assurance of our place in heaven someday, strong assurance that the promises of God's word are yea and amen will always be fulfilled, for us to have the strong assurance that we need about these things requires that we have an understanding of the mystery of the incarnation. So that you will have understanding, full assurance of understanding to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, to that end, you must understand for in Him are all the fullness, is all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And so the reason for the declaration we can say is for the assurance of God's people, that we might be strengthened in our assurance of these things which we believe, these doctrines that we call the Christian faith.
What else? Not only for assurance, but also this declaration is given for perseverance. Verse six, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. Now some in looking at that text have tried to figure out what is the concept that the writer is getting at, that Paul is getting at here, when he says for as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, it sounds like he is saying in whatever way you received Christ Jesus the Lord, namely by faith, that you should also walk in Him in the same manner, that is by faith.
And that's true, but I don't think that's what this text is saying. What it's saying is because you received Christ Jesus the Lord in the past, you now must continue to follow Him in the present and on into the future. In other words we can put it this way, those of you who have been saved must continue, persevere, keep walking, keep believing, keep clinging to the Lord. You who have received Christ must continue to follow Him and to do that you need to know Him in His fullness if you're going to persevere in the Christian faith in the way you should. And when you know Him in fullness you will be enabled to persevere. It won't be as likely that you will stumble and waver and be distracted and take a different route and then if you are God's true children be pulled back to the path of righteousness, but for that you need knowledge.
That was indicated in the verse we just looked at in verse 2, the assurance of understanding. If we can get it through our heads that about 90 percent of what we need in order to have a vibrant Christian life is conceptual, it is mental, it is informational, it is knowledge. That's not all there is, there's more than just knowledge. It's possible to know all the doctrines of the Word of God and still not be a born again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We know that's possible. It's not just knowledge, but it is mostly knowledge. You must have that upon which to build the other things. And people who flounder in their Christian walk are usually people who don't give enough attention to the Word of God. They think of it more like it's a daily bread. Nothing wrong with a daily bread, but take a little text here and make it mean whatever you want it to mean and take an inspirational thought from that and that will keep me going today and tomorrow I need another blessing.
Did any of you when you were growing up and maybe still do it, there's nothing wrong with this, but did any of you have a little container on your table that had cards with verses on it and the idea was to take one out at each meal and read it and that was your blessing for the day? I'm not discouraging that practice in any way, but if that's all that constitutes your study of the Word of God and your understanding of the Word of God, you're going to be on not a really solid foundation. You need more doctrine, more understanding, more fullness of the knowledge of God and that's what he's saying here. You've received him by faith and it doesn't take a lot of knowledge in order to surrender in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank God for that. That's why children can be saved. It doesn't take a vast amount of knowledge in order to come to Christ or recognize your need of him. You need some understanding to recognize that you're a sinner in need of a Savior and that Christ is a Savior and that you must come to him for salvation, you must believe in him, you must embrace him, but frankly that is done many times without a great deal of, can we use the term, theological understanding. You don't need a lot of knowledge to be saved, but you do need a lot of knowledge to walk perseveringly, faithfully over a period of time.
If you don't get that knowledge you're just not going to be firm, you're not going to be grounded, you're not going to be stable, you're going to be wavered, you're going to be up, you're going to be down, you're going to be back, you're going to be forth, you're going to be unsure and then sure again and then sure again and endlessly. And so to that end, for your perseverance in the Christian faith, I write this amazing truth that even the Apostle Paul did not fully understand but he wants us to understand it at least in some measure. I write to you this truth that for in him, the Jesus Christ you have trusted and the one that you are now endeavoring to follow, for in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
Now you can dwell on that truth for a lifetime and never come to the end of it. And if you will pursue it that way, you will persevere much more faithfully in the Christian walk. One more thing in this reason for the declaration and that is for discernment, verse 8, the immediately preceding verse to our text. Paul says, beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world and not according to Christ, for in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
Beware, he says, look out, there are dangers out there. There is much to take you away from the Christian walk, much to derail you from your pursuit of Jesus Christ throughout your lifetime. If there were many things that were inclined and designed to take followers of Christ away from the true path of knowledge and obedience in Paul's day, think how many more there are in our day. Think how many more opportunities there are for dangerous teaching to reach us that couldn't even be comprehended in days gone by.
About the only way a false teacher could impact a believer in Paul's day was to travel to their city and to proclaim in some way publicly in the streets, in the marketplaces, house to house, their particular doctrine. Theoretically, of course, they could write to people like Paul is doing now in this epistle and send it to them, but unless you've got a gathering of people to send that epistle to, it's going to take a long time to reach very many. There were no printing presses. There were no copy machines. Every single copy of the letter had to be written out by hand. How many of those would you send, Mr. False Teacher, to the city of Colossae if you were dependent upon the written word to deceive them?
It would take you a long time to even come up with a hundred copies to distribute. You couldn't go distributing them like tracts like we do in this day. It pretty much took one person coming bodily and proclaiming his false doctrine. We read in the epistle references to these false teachers in almost every epistle. They were very active. It seems like wherever Paul established a church, it was only a matter of months at most and maybe only weeks until here came some false teachers trying to affect these people and they set up camp there. We don't know exactly what they did, maybe not the same thing in every case. They were not members of the church.
They were outside the church but they were reaching into the church through encounters in the marketplace, encounters in the public square, and even when possible getting into the homes of believers and talking to them there. That's the reason for the warning in 2 John to not receive. If anybody comes unto you and doesn't preach this doctrine, do not receive him into your house. Or even say God bless you. Don't even bid him Godspeed. Because if you encourage him in any way, you become a partaker of his evil deeds. Don't do that.
Don't do that. And yet there were many avenues of false doctrine that were reaching out to the members of the church of Colossae and Laodicea and perhaps Hierapolis. And Paul says beware lest anyone cheat you. It could read rob you or plunder you.
Or even this word could mean kidnap you. These are efforts by false teachers to do, if at all possible, to kidnap people away from the local church in Colossae, away from the assembly of the saints, away from the people of God, and to make them members of their little group, whatever it would be, as they start to establish what we would call a cult based upon erroneous teaching about Christ. And they're working really hard at it. Isn't it amazing, and we've seen this in our day, how sometimes those who are involved in erroneous cults, false cults, seem to have a much greater energy and zeal to propagate their false doctrine than do the people of God who know the truth?
That should shame us, shouldn't it? And if you have anybody come knocking on your door from time to time, and they are in most cases Jehovah's Witness, and in some lesser cases Mormons, both of which have a heretical doctrine of Christ. They do not believe, they do not teach, they do not propagate the doctrine that we have in the Bible about who Jesus Christ is, the very one that we're looking at in our text today. They don't have that. They have something different from that.
And that's really where to go if you get into a conversation with these people, just go straight to that. What do you believe about Jesus Christ? Is he eternal God?
Well, no, depending on who you're talking to. No, he's the first created. That's not what the Bible says. He's not the first one that God created. He is the one who created all things.
He is God. If you're an heir about who Jesus is, you can't possibly be a Christian. If you're an heir about who Jesus is, you can't possibly help other people to come into a knowledge of the truth that brings salvation. And so Paul says beware, lest anyone rob you or kidnap you through.
And he goes through a list of things here, and there's a little bit of overlapping, but it helps us understand what these dangers look like. Philosophy, empty deceit, tradition of men, principles of this world, anything that is not according to Christ, anything that is not what the Bible reveals about Jesus Christ. If it is different from that, if it's contrary to that, it is wrong, and it is dangerous. In Paul's day, the word philosophy was a little broader than what we normally mean today because we have a particular concept of philosophy, particular curriculum in school where you can take a class in philosophy and many classes in philosophy and study the philosophers and so forth. But it had a bit broader meaning in Paul's day. It simply meant any system of teaching. So if there's a system of teaching that is similar to the Jehovah's Witnesses, they have a system of teaching, but it's a false philosophy, a false system of so-called Christianity and likewise anything else in that category. So beware, lest anyone deceive you through philosophy or empty deceit. Those are things that sound good, but have no truth, no substance to them. How often I find people who are attracted by a charismatic personality, he is so, or sometimes she, he is so interesting, he is so attractive, he is such a good communicator, he is, I just like him, but does he teach the truth? Oh, I suppose so.
I'm not really listening to him for that purpose. I really don't have any way of determining that because you don't know the word of God. Beware, lest anyone cheat you, deceive you through philosophy, any false system of teaching, or empty deceit because it sounds good, it looks good. How many people are attracted to things, Christian organizations that are attractive because they seem to be so popular, they seem to be so successful? They must be doing something right.
I've heard people say that. The church seems to be growing rapidly. Wow, they must be doing something right. Well, they may be doing something right as far as human organizations of building organizations are concerned, but the question is are they propagating the truth of God's word or are they attracting people according to something that is not true? Are they deceiving people?
That's the question. The biggest church in the United States in Texas is so big they have to meet in an athletic coliseum that holds, I guess, 25-30,000 people to get all the people in who want to come. They must be doing something right, but it's not gospel right. It's not Bible right. It's not truth. It's thinly disguised. It has certain elements of the Bible and of Christianity in it, but it is not the truth of God's word. It is not the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ. It is basically a self-help, self-esteem, real good, prosperity gospel approach that appeals to unconverted people and it makes them think they're Christians because they're attracted to this so-called Christian ministry and it is empty deceit.
Beware, beware, beware that you don't get kidnapped by something like that. Traditions of men. That can be used in a good or a bad sense. A tradition is a doctrine that is handed down. If you are following the word of God, you are following the traditions of the apostles. Christ taught the apostles. The apostles taught others.
That's been handed down over the generations. It's been written in the Bible. We are following the traditions of men without apology, but not all traditions are true to the word of God. You've got to check what traditions you're following to see if they follow the apostolic tradition because if they don't, they're false, they're misleading. They may have you holding on to a Christian concept that is not salvation by faith alone through grace alone in Christ alone that may wind you up in hell even all the time that you're following this so-called Christian teaching. It's deceit.
Watch out. And the basic principles of the world simply mean external observation, ceremonies, or initiations. And Paul said, in order to fortify you against these dangers, what do I tell you? For in him, Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. You can just camp on that truth for the rest of your life and you will not go astray.
But if you allow yourself to be sidetracked from that central truth, then you are in danger of being swept away. The reason for the declaration, but what next? The magnificence of the revelation. All the fullness of the Godhead.
This is magnificent. And I'm not going to have time to deal with any detail, the things that I've written down here, but I have pulled out of the context six things that are said about Jesus Christ in some of the surrounding verses, primarily previous verses, that tell us exactly what he means when he says, I'm declaring unto you the fullness of Christ. That in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
What does that mean? That means, number one, the image of the invisible God, chapter one, verse fifteen. He is the image of the invisible God.
Image, likeness, visible manifestation. He is the manifestation of the invisible God. God the Father is invisible. You haven't seen him.
I haven't seen him. Nobody has seen him in his fullness. Some have seen little parts of his glory, as Moses was allowed to do. But nobody has seen God the Father.
But how many people actually saw with their eyes Jesus Christ? And in him was all the fullness of God. The image of the invisible God. This speaks of the nature of this one that we call our Lord and Savior. And primarily what is communicated in the incarnation in Jesus Christ in the form of a body are what we call the communicable attributes of God. His love, his righteousness, his wisdom.
We can have all of these things at least in part. And in heaven I guess we'll have in their completeness. There are other attributes of God that we'll never share. We'll never share his eternality. We'll never share his omnipotence. We'll never share his omniscience, having all knowledge. But there are a lot of things that are attributes of God that were found in their fullness, in their completeness in Jesus Christ because he is God in the flesh.
And those things we can receive in part. But he is the image of the invisible God. That's his nature. Verse 15 also says he's the firstborn over all creation.
That speaks of his position. This word firstborn is actually found eight times in the New Testament and only one time does it refer to birth order. That is the one born first.
That's what comes to our minds. Firstborn, I'm the firstborn in my family. And I've got a brother who followed me and a sister who followed both of us.
Some people make a big deal of that. If you're the firstborn then this and this and this is true of you. If you're the middle child then this and this and this is true of you. And if you're the last child this and this and this is true of you. And all of your problems you can trace to that. That's why I'm such a mess. I was the firstborn.
I don't know. I was born first. That's not what it means here. In the Bible, both Old and New Testament, firstborn usually speaks about a position. Listen to the words in Exodus chapter 4 as God is instructing Moses what to say to Pharaoh and he says, then you shall say to Pharaoh thus says the Lord, Israel is my son, my firstborn. Now here he's talking about the nation of Israel and he says, Israel is my son, my firstborn.
What does he mean? I have elevated Israel to the highest position among the nations. That's what it means. Or in Psalm 89 verse 27, speaking of the Messiah, we read, also I will make him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.
That text makes it clear. He's talking about position. I will make him the greater son of David. I will make him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.
I'm going to put him in first position. And when Paul says for in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, he's including the fact that he is the firstborn over all creation, the highest position. He is, according to verse 16, the creator of all things. For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him.
That can only mean that he is uncreated. This doesn't say everything else after him he made. God the Father made Jesus the first created being and then Jesus, through Jesus, God enabled him to create everything else. That's not what it says.
It's very clear, emphatic. He created all things that are created. He made everything that has been made. He is unmade.
He is uncreated. He is eternal and he has made everything else. That's who we're talking about when we're talking about this babe born in the manger that in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells. He is the one who made everything else. That speaks of his wisdom, of his power. And verse 17 goes on to say he sustains all things. He's before all things and by him all things consist. And verse 18 that is preeminent in all things. The head of the church, the head of all things and in chapter 2 verse 3 he's the source of all truth in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. We've all known people who had a lot of knowledge about a lot of things but seemed to be so clueless about some of the most common sense basic things.
How does that happen? Well because they skipped the most important area of knowledge. They may know a lot about history. They may know a lot about mathematics. They may know a lot about this.
They may know a lot about that. But they have rejected any desire to know any willingness to know anything about God Almighty and about his son the Lord Jesus Christ and that's the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is facts. Wisdom is having the understanding to know how to put these facts into their proper place in light of human existence, in light of human relationships, in light of man's relationship to God until we understand, accept and believe that God created me and God created you and that I therefore am related to him either rightly or wrongly and if I'm wrongly related to him then they will not be in good shape on the day of judgment but if by grace I come to the Savior and my sins are forgiven and I'm reconciled to God and I'm rightly related to my Creator then I have eternal life which is eternal it will never end and then I can begin to put the pieces of knowledge together in this life so that I understand where they go and how they operate. I don't have to go through life clueless. It's amazing how sometimes people who have very little education seems to have a whole lot more common sense than people with three PhDs.
How does that happen? Because they know the Lord. They have the wisdom to know what to do with whatever knowledge they have. It may not be as much as it is but they understand how the pieces fit together because they acknowledge him and in him is all wisdom and knowledge. You have to go to him. You can't ignore him.
You can't bypass him. You can't set him aside and have all wisdom and knowledge. So that brings us then third and finally to the mystery of the Incarnation.
To our text specifically. In him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In who? It says in him. Who are we talking about?
Back up one step. Christ verse 8. According to the basic principles of the world not according to Christ for in him that is in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Back in verse 6 it referred to him as Christ Jesus the Lord. And you may not be aware but this is the only time that that particular phrase with those exact words in that sequence is used in the Bible. Sometimes we read about Jesus. Sometimes we read about Jesus Christ. Sometimes we read about the Lord Jesus Christ and so forth.
But here is a particular phrase. Christ Jesus the Lord. It is literally the Christ Jesus the Lord. The Christ that is the Messiah even Jesus the Lord.
The Christ as defined by the following. Jesus the Lord. We like to emphasize he that is Jesus is Lord.
He is. Jesus is Lord. He is Lord. He is Lord. He's risen from the dead and he is Lord. But sometimes we need to emphasize that Christ is Jesus the Lord.
Put it all together here. In other words the Christ that is the Messiah promised from all the ages promised clear back to Genesis 3.15. The Christ is Jesus of Nazareth.
The promised Christ is a man who was born of a virgin Mary laid in a manger in a stable and then you know the rest of his history as it's revealed to us in the gospels died on the cross a substitute for the sins of many rose bodily from the grave and is back in heaven but we're talking about the man. Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ and he is also the Lord. He is the promised Messiah and he is eternal God. He is not a Lord. He is the Lord.
King of kings and Lord of lords. Eternal deity. Now that's a mystery. It's not a mystery that was not ever touched upon in any way in the Old Testament because it was but it's clear that most of the Old Testament believers didn't understand exactly what to expect in the coming of the Messiah who he would be who he was and what he would be like and it's clear in studying the scriptures in the New Testament what first century Jews believing Jews that is practicing Jews maybe I should put it that way religious Jews what they were looking for was a human being in the line of David who would be enabled by God to rise to a position of power so that his kingdom would become a great kingdom greater than David's greater than Solomon's would become the greatest kingdom in the world and he would elevate his national people Israel with him in this grand matter and that he was a man and they were looking for a grand man so when Jesus of Nazareth came along the lowly one they couldn't imagine that he could be the one and then when he started saying things that indicated that he was more than the man that he appeared to be he was God clothed in humanity God hidden in humanity in human nature but he was he was also deity one who could forgive sins for example that they found utterly blasphemous they could not they didn't get a concept of who this promised Messiah was even though Isaiah the prophet said his name shall be called Emmanuel God with us but they just couldn't put this together could they it was a mystery a mystery is something that is not revealed fully until God chooses to reveal it and so we have it now Christ has come and this has been revealed and in him this one Christ dwells all the fullness of the triune Godhead in a body it is Jesus of Nazareth this difference is the Christ of Christmas this difference is the Christ of Christianity any Christ who is not God in the flesh is not the true Christ anyone who believes in a false Christ is not a Christian only this Christ can meet the needs and longings of the human soul the choir sang about that didn't they there's a yearning there's a yearning there is this unsettledness this unfulfillment this something is is wrong and I can't seem to get my bearings and make things right that's in the soul of every person and what that's doing Augustine identified that years years ago when he said that our souls are not at rest until they find their rest in you in thee oh God our souls are restless and and we'll never find rest until they find our rest in thee and Christ is the one and the only one who can truly fulfill all of the yearnings and desires of the human heart one of the philosophers that you will study if you study philosophy John Paul Sartre said life is an empty bubble in the sea of nothingness boy isn't that great he was a brilliant man and he studied philosophy studied humanity studied everything he knew to study and this was his conclusion it's all meaningless now that'll give you motivation to get up and live another day with joy and put that one on your table the little cards in the box and see how that helps you but if you know him if you know him you have the meaning of everything and so believe in him for who he is trust in him for what he is able to do and worship him for he is almighty God let's pray father how we thank you for this wonderful truth condensed in a short text thank you for enabling us to understand at least in part what it means to say that in him dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily help us oh lord to cling to this one and to continue to cling to him throughout all of life and into a glorious eternity as we ask it in jesus name amen
