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Now let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heidzig. He has delivered us. From the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love. in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. Typical Paul in many of his letters.
Says, I'm praying for you guys. And then he says, This is what I'm praying for you guys.
So he says I Verse 3. We pray always for you.
Now, when somebody tells me they're praying for me, I always want to know what they're praying for me for.
Well, I've been praying for really What? And so To appease their curiosity, but more than that, to really inform them. specifically what he's praying for, verse nine. All the way down to 14 is Paul's prayer. For this reason, we also, verse 9, since the day we heard, do not cease to pray for you and ask.
That you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
Okay. I want you to notice these terms because they're intentional. Look at the word knowledge. In verse 9. The word wisdom, also in verse nine.
And then also the two words spiritual understanding. Remember, I told you about the Colossian heresy? And that kind of mixture of Jewish legalism and asceticism and mysticism, which would become known as. Gnosticism. These were key words in their vocabulary.
These were buzzwords. If you want real knowledge and true wisdom and real spiritual understanding, you have to follow this stuff. That was the Colossian heresy. It became known as it became formalized by about the second century AD. Called Gnosticism, and there were two branches of that.
I'm not going to bore you with information you don't need to know about the different branches of it, but. It became known as Gnosticism.
Now, Gnostic or Gnosis is the Greek word for knowledge. You've heard of the word agnostic. My brother claimed to be an agnostic. He was raised in faith. But then he declared to the family one day, I am an agnostic.
An agnostic is simply means, I don't know. There may be a God, there may not be a God. I'm not. I'm not sure. I'm uncertain.
An atheist says there is no God. An agnostic says, maybe, may not be. I'm going to live my life. Doing my deal. I'm agnostic.
I don't know. I don't have the knowledge for sure. A Gnostic is the exact opposite of an agnostic. A Gnostic says, I know. And if you want to really know God.
You have to practice this Jewish legalism and Greek mysticism and. Radical asceticism, all these things that I talked about of the Colossian heresy, they use these terms a lot. True spiritual knowledge will give you the true path to God. Jesus is a good start. But is not all you need.
You need more. That's why Paul wrote the letter because they were saying you need more.
So, this is what they believed. This is what they said.
Now, let me tell you: Gnosticism began with a legitimate. Philosophical question.
Okay, listen to the question, and you'll say, Well, it's legitimate because that's what people ask today. Here's the question. How can a world so filled with evil have been created by A good God. How can a world that is evil be created by a good God? And so This belief system came into view.
Which said The material world is evil. And because the material world is evil, it could not have been created by God.
So what happened? Is An emanation, a spiritual entity or being went out. From The true Good God, and then another emanation, and another emanation, thousands of them. And eventually, it was so far from That original good, powerful God, that it was evil. And that entity created the evil universe.
That's all part of this Gnosticism. Was one of those emanations. He's not God, he's just an emanation. He's a good start. He's a stepping stone to get to have true knowledge and spiritual understanding and true wisdom.
So that became known as Gnosticism. That is what Epaphras is bothered about.
So he uses their terminology. I'm praying for you that you'll be filled with a knowledge of his will, you'll know what God's will is for your life. It's amazing how many People have gone to church their whole life. And they have no idea what God's will is for their life. Paul says, I want you to discover that.
Now, the way you discover it is you seek it, you pursue it, you make that your pursuit. I want to find out what God has me here on earth to do. Paul says, I'm praying that you'll have that knowledge of his will and all wisdom. and spiritual understanding. That you may have a walk worthy of the Lord.
I'm not going to go through every nuance of this fully. Pleasing Him. I would say these are synonymous ideas. When you are filled with the knowledge of God, what God wants you to do, God's will for your life is, generally speaking, You're going to live a life that's pleasing to God. What is the purpose of life?
What is the reason life exists? In Revelation, in heaven, the anthems of heaven by the angelic host are. And for your pleasure, all these things were created. and exist. You were created.
To bring God pleasure. To please God. You were created to serve God. That's why you get so happy when you engage in pleasing God, serving God, doing his work, leading people to Christ, praying for other people. It brings joy.
You think, oh, I mean, I'll do some of that, but I'm going to pursue happiness as part of my legal right as an American. It's in my constitution, the pursuit of happiness. Listen. Happiness is never found by direct pursuit. The more you do as you please, the less you are pleased with what you do.
If you really want pleasure and joy. Don't seek after pleasure and joy. Seek after God, and all these things will be added to you. It's not by direct pursuit. It's by pursuing God.
Fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. Of course, that's what you're doing. That's what Bible study is meant to do. You understand the word of God, you'll understand the will of God, you'll have the knowledge of God, etc. And I love verse 11: strengthened with all might according to his glorious power.
for all patience the long suffering with joy.
Now I happen to love that verse. Because Notice the wording. Notice the three words in verse 11: strengthened. Might Power. Here's Paul saying, I'm praying.
That you get those three in your life: strength, might, power. What that tells me, the fact that Paul is praying that for believers. It tells me I need all the help I can get. I need all the strength, all the might, all the power I can get.
Now, when he uses the word. strengthened And might See those two words? They're very similar. They're the Greek word dunamis. You've heard of that word dunamis.
It's dynamite or dynamic. If you had a Greek New Testament, and I know some of you may actually have a Greek New Testament because some of us here do actually read the original languages. But you will notice that it says dun namain dunamunamoi. Which would probably best be translated that you. Will have the dynamic of God's dynamite.
That you will live with the dynamic of God's power.
So these two words are fused together. Dunemei dunamuna moi. Have the dynamic of God's dynamite. I'm praying that you be strengthened with his power. I love that because I can't do any of this on my own power.
I am so weak, and the quicker you come to that awareness of your weakness. The better off you'll be. That's where the strength begins. Right, that's what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12. That he prayed three times to have that thorn removed, and he goes, I'm going to just rest in God, and it's his power, and he's going to carry me through.
So strengthened with all might according to his glorious power.
Now why do you need all this power? Here's why. For patients. And long suffering. With joy.
I'll get to the with joy. You need God's power and strength. Just to live a patient life. Just to get long suffering in your life. Just to put up with the people you put up with.
And the things you put up with in society. It takes all of God's strength and power. For this to happen. Patience. and long suffering.
Any of you struggle with patience? Any of you pray for patience? Ever get impatient that you're not patient? God, give me patience now. It's a good prayer.
But be advised when you pray for patience. What's coming your way? Trials that require strength, might, and power. It's tribulation, Paul said. that works or develops.
Patience. And God knows what you need, and God knows how to dish it out and write the prescription. at just the right time.
So never ask, how do I get out of this? Always ask, what do I get out of this? Patience. long suffering, but then he adds this with joy. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig.
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Now, let's return to today's teaching. You know, it's one thing to like endure.
Okay, I have pace. I'm putting up with it. It's another thing to do it with joy.
Somebody once said, A little faith will bring your soul to heaven. A lot of faith will bring heaven to your soul. When you can endure with Joy. Man, that's like, okay, now you're passing the test, now you're getting A. Endurance, patience, with joy.
And Paul says, I'm praying that for you. But then quickly, as he winds us down, giving thanks. To the Father. Who has qualified us? Get this, get this.
He has qualified us. To be partakers of the inheritance. Of the saints in the light. This group This Group of heretics, this Colossian heresy, these neo-gnostics. We're saying that you have to go through all of these practices and And rituals in order to get perfect.
Jesus is a good start. What Paul underscores is, God has qualified us. You don't get qualified. You're not on the way. You have enough in Christ.
He has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints and light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness, translated us into the kingdom. That's an instantaneous fact, the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through his blood. The forgiveness of sins. I hope you always.
Close your prayers by thanksgiving. You should always thank God for salvation. Right. That's what he's doing. I'm thanking God for the salvation he's brought to us.
That's what communion is all about. Do this in remembrance of me. Remember back so you can always give thanks for. How you are saved, why you are saved. That you didn't do it, he did it for you.
So that you can give thanks. Through giving thanks to the Father for these things. Yeah We always say gratitude is the attitude, that's us the altitude. For the Christian Life. And Paul is a man filled with Thanksgiving.
Um He does that here.
Now. I thought we were going to go a little more than this, but we're going to dip into it. Verse 15. to 20. Is the centerpiece in my view of the book.
It's the very heart of it. It's the theological heart of it, it's the theological core of it. It is Um Verse fifteen to twenty is a two-stanza poem. Two stanzas in the original language. It translates a little differently into English, but there's two stanzas.
It's a poem.
So it probably was a statement of faith that was Maybe written by Paul, adopted by the churches. It is believed that this is sort of their core statement of faith regarding the person. Nature and work of Jesus Christ.
So there are There are quotations or borrowed phrases. Uh, from Genesis and Exodus and Psalms and Proverbs in verses 15 to 20. We're not going to note all those when they occur, but it is the very centerpiece. which centers on the person of Jesus Christ.
Now, Paul says, Hi, greetings, your citizens here and in Christ. I'm praying for you. This is what I'm praying for you for.
Now I'm going to get to the heart. Christ. You are holding in your hand a book that has a single message. Christ Oh, I know. 66 books.
Different authors. Different. Reasons they were written. But think about it, Genesis. Talks about creation, the fall.
And then immediately in chapter three, the very first prediction of the solution for the fall. God's going to send the seed of the woman. It's first messianic prophecy. Then you go through the Old Testament, you find the prophets announcing a deliverer's coming. From the tribe of Judah from the house of David.
Who will rule over the earth? The prophets add more flair and more prediction to it. Daniel certainly does. You come through that to the New Testament. You have four stories presenting Christ.
Four gospels. Then you have The book of Acts, which tells you about the followers of Christ who developed communities in different parts of the world. Then you have the epistles written by Paul and John and Peter, which talk about. The practices of the church and the doctrines of the church and how they're to act. Then you have the book of Revelation, which shows you Jesus coming to fulfill all of those prophecies, coming to rule and reign.
It's all about him.
So the Bible If you want to boil it down to its irreducible minimum, is about one person and two events. One person, Jesus Christ, two events, first coming. Second coming. First coming to deal with the issue of the problem of sin. Second coming to rule and reign with those who have been cleansed.
from their sin. And that is the message of the Bible. One person two events. Paul makes a beeline to Christ. And rightfully so.
Because the Bible is about Christ. You remember when Jesus rose from the dead and was walking with those two. Forlorn, discouraged disciples on the road to Emmaus from Jerusalem, and he's walking alongside of them. They don't know it's him. And it says, beginning at Moses and all the prophets.
He began to explain to them in all of the scriptures the things concerning himself. And afterwards, they said, Did not our hearts burn within us as he spoke to us along the way? As Jesus revealed himself in the scripture and they could see how this point connects to that point connects to this point, it all made sense. Their hearts burned. And so he goes for it here.
Um I may be able to get through verse 15. And then we'll close and continue next time. Concerning Christ, concerning Jesus, he... is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn. Over All creation.
Every cult has butchered that text. It is one of the hallmarks of Non-Christian cults? They try to go under the name of we're Christians, but they're not, whether it's Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons. They always go to this text wanting to show you that Jesus. was created By God.
That God made Jesus. Jesus may have made other things, but he is the firstborn of creation. He is the first one ever created. And so that's going to take some explanation. But I want to explain that one word.
He is the image. of the invisible God. The word is icon. Icon He's the icon. He is the copy.
He is the exact representation.
Okay. John chapter 1, the Gospel of John chapter 1, verse 18: No one has seen God at any time. But the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father or at the At that right hand or the place of intimacy with the Father, He has revealed Him, He has manifested Him, He's brought Him forth. I did this for the purpose of illustration. This is probably where we'll close.
I know you can't tell from there, but I brought a big one instead of a small. This is a negative, a photographic negative. This is a 4x5 negative from a camera that I used to own, a 4x5 field or view camera. Used to be in plates that you would put in individually in the back of the camera, put a sheet over your head. You'd see everything upside down, focused, et cetera.
And it's still being used today, but this is a picture of a church. I can see it. Um in New Mexico when I first moved here. I was doing this kind of photography. When I clicked The shutter To make this image.
The film had never seen light. up to that point.
Okay. But when I click the shutter. It made an image. It's called a latent image. In photography, a latent image.
That is, it's an image, but it's invisible to the eye. And if you were to take the film out of the camera after I clicked the shutter and looked at it, it would be opaque. You wouldn't see an image. But it's there. It's a latent image.
It's invisible. It has to be made visible.
So, how do you make something that's latent and invisible visible? You use chemical called a developer.
Now, I talk about this because I actually still do this to this day. I still have a little dark room and I still do it by hand.
So When you take when you snap the shutter, And it's invisible. And you have this. Silver bromide on the emulsion of the of the image. When you put it in developer It takes that which is invisible and makes it Visible. You put other chemicals in there to make it more permanent.
But now I can hold that up to the light. I can see a perfect image. I see a cemetery with crosses and graves. I see the steeple of the church. I see the outline of the church.
It was taken right up here in Cedarcrest. along the road. But Invisible God. The developer Was Jesus.
So, if you want to know what God is like, you look at Jesus. He is the icon of God. He is the visible. Image, icon, copy, exact representation. of the invisible God.
But Jesus said, if you have seen me, You have seen the Father. This is very core to the rest of the book, and it's very core to Christian theology. But we're out of time.
So, we're going to really get to the core and the idea: how is Jesus the firstborn if he created everything? How could God have created him? What's up with that? And so we'll delve further into that, but it's a theological gold mine. Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig.
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