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Colossians 4:7-18 - Friends of the Early Church · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Good morning, faithful listeners, Welcome to the Bible Explain podcast.
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  Speaker 1: On this lovely, beautiful day, we are in the last
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  Speaker 1: chapter of Colossians today and we're going to be finishing
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  Speaker 1: this book up and moving into First Thessalonians on Thursday,
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  Speaker 1: but as of today, we will be discussing all of
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  Speaker 1: these various people that Paul mentioned and their role in
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  Speaker 1: the early church history. So stay tuned for that. As
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  Speaker 1: much as I like talking about the deep theological teachings
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  Speaker 1: of Paul, sometimes it's really nice to take a step
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  Speaker 1: back and talk about church history and other topics that
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  Speaker 1: are a little bit more light. However, they're still so
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  Speaker 1: important because they're here in scripture. And so what can
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  Speaker 1: we learn from all of these people that Paul mentions, Well,
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  Speaker 1: actually we can learn a lot. So we're going to
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  Speaker 1: talk about each individual person and who they might have
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  Speaker 1: been or what role they played in the early Church.
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  Speaker 1: So this is Paul's conclusion to Colasians, where he is
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  Speaker 1: thanking all of these individuals. Let's read Colossians for seven
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  Speaker 1: through eighteen. I'll be reading as always from the web.
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  Speaker 1: Grab your delicious cup of seven Weeks Coffee, the coffee
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  Speaker 1: brand that supports life in the womb link in description.
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  Speaker 1: As we read this passage together, all of my affairs
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  Speaker 1: will be made known to you by Tachikus, the beloved brother,
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  Speaker 1: faithful servant, and fellow bond servant in the Lord. I
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  Speaker 1: am sending him to you for this very purpose, that
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  Speaker 1: he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts. Together
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  Speaker 1: with Onisimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is one
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  Speaker 1: of you, they will make known to you everything that
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  Speaker 1: is going on here. Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you.
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  Speaker 1: And Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, concerning whom you received instructions.
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  Speaker 1: If he comes to you, receive him. And Jesus, who
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  Speaker 1: is called Justice. These are my my only fellow workers
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  Speaker 1: for God's kingdom, who are of the circumcision, men who
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  Speaker 1: have been a comfort to me. Epaphras, who is one
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  Speaker 1: of you, a servant of Christ, salutes you, always striving
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  Speaker 1: for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect
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  Speaker 1: and complete in all the will of God. For I
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  Speaker 1: testify about Him that he is great zeal for you
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  Speaker 1: and for those in Ladicea, and for those in Hiropolis.
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  Speaker 1: Luke the beloved physician and Demus greet you greet the
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  Speaker 1: brothers who are in Ladicea with Nymphus and the assembly
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  Speaker 1: that is in his house. When this letter has been
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  Speaker 1: read among you, cause it to be read also in
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  Speaker 1: the assembly of the Ladysseans, and that you also read
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  Speaker 1: the letter from Leadicea. Tell Archipas, take heed to the
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  Speaker 1: ministry which you've received in the Lord that you fulfill it.
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  Speaker 1: I Paul write this greeting with my own hand, remember
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  Speaker 1: my chains. Grace be with you, Amen. What a lovely
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  Speaker 1: way to end Colossians, you know, with Paul just giving
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  Speaker 1: thanks for all of these people and blessing them for
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  Speaker 1: every generation to see and read about. And most of
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  Speaker 1: these people, you know, we don't actually know who they are,
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  Speaker 1: but we do know some of them, which we'll get
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  Speaker 1: into in just a second. Paul was writing this letter
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  Speaker 1: to the Colossians, and he actually says at the very
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  Speaker 1: end here that he was also writing it to the Leideseans,
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  Speaker 1: which was a city very close to Calisa. But in
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  Speaker 1: the last four chapters, Paul was making a huge case
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  Speaker 1: as to why the Colossian Church needed to abandon bad
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  Speaker 1: ideologies such as angel worship or wisdom worship or pagan
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  Speaker 1: rituals being integrated into Christianity, or judaizers coming in and
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  Speaker 1: trying to lead people astray and force them to follow
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  Speaker 1: the Old Testament laws when that was not necessary for salvation.
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  Speaker 1: And then Paul talked about what Christianity is going to
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  Speaker 1: look like inside the home. No matter what social station
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  Speaker 1: you held in life, whether you were a husband, a wife,
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  Speaker 1: a slave, or a freeman, every single person had a
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  Speaker 1: responsibility once they became a Christian. So now he wraps
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  Speaker 1: up here talking about all of these different people, some
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  Speaker 1: of them Jewish, some of them gentile, who have come
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  Speaker 1: together under the family of faith. He says in verse seven,
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  Speaker 1: all of my affairs will be made known to you
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  Speaker 1: by Taichikis, the beloved brother, faithful servant, and fellow bond
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  Speaker 1: servant in the Lord. Now, most likely Taichikis, which I
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  Speaker 1: think I'm saying his name correctly. It's it's kind of
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  Speaker 1: a mouthful. Taichikis. He was probably the guy that was
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  Speaker 1: carrying this letter to the Colossians, and he was very
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  Speaker 1: likely the same man who carried the Ephesian letter to
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  Speaker 1: the Ephesians as well. So Taichikis was basically Paul's messenger
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  Speaker 1: and not to mention, Taichikis had a big responsibility of
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  Speaker 1: not just delivering this letter to the one city, but
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  Speaker 1: he also had to travel around to the other area,
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  Speaker 1: the other cities nearby and read these letters as well,
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  Speaker 1: because don't forget that, back in these days, writing letters
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  Speaker 1: was time consuming and finding paper or scrolls was also
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  Speaker 1: hard to do, so copying down several letters for different
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  Speaker 1: areas was very difficult, which was why a messenger like
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  Speaker 1: Taichikis would be very important back in these days, because
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  Speaker 1: he would go from town to town and a city
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  Speaker 1: to city, sharing this message with the local churches. He says,
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  Speaker 1: I am sending him Taichikis to you for this very purpose,
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  Speaker 1: that he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts
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  Speaker 1: together with Onisimus. So it sounds to me like Taychikis
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  Speaker 1: had never been to Colossie before. But the reason Paul
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  Speaker 1: was sending him, it sounds like, was for the purpose
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  Speaker 1: of telling the Colossians how Paul was getting along, and
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  Speaker 1: Paul trusted Taichikis to be a good bearer of this news. Apparently,
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  Speaker 1: Tychkiss was also coming with Anissimus, and we talked about
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  Speaker 1: Anisimus last week. We mentioned how he was the slave
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  Speaker 1: of phi Leman, who was likely a wealthier Christian individual.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, Phileman had a church inside of his own home,
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  Speaker 1: but he was a slave owner, as were most of
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  Speaker 1: the people back in these days. In fact, half of
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  Speaker 1: the people you would encounter were slaves of some sort.
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  Speaker 1: And Anissimus had run away from Philemon, not just running
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  Speaker 1: away but also stealing from him. But then when he
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  Speaker 1: met Paul, he became a Christian, and Paul, while being
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  Speaker 1: in prison, writes a letter to Philemon saying, please accept
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  Speaker 1: Anisimus back, because though he was useless before. That is
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  Speaker 1: what Paul says, he is now your brother in Christ,
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  Speaker 1: and he is going to be useful. He was useful
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  Speaker 1: to me. In fact, he is useful right now. He
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  Speaker 1: comforted me while I was in chains, and so I
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  Speaker 1: ask of you that you accept him back and treat
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  Speaker 1: him kindly, is what he says. In fact, Phileman one,
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  Speaker 1: there's only one chapter in Philemen, verse ten. Here's what
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  Speaker 1: Paul says to Phileman. I appeal to you for my
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  Speaker 1: child Anisimus, whom I have become the father of in
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  Speaker 1: my chains, who is once useless to you, but now
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  Speaker 1: is useful to you and to me. I am sending
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  Speaker 1: him back. Therefore, receive him. That is my own heart
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  Speaker 1: whom I desired to keep with me, that on your
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  Speaker 1: behalf he might serve me in my chains for the
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  Speaker 1: good news. So Paul gives this glowing recommendation for Anisimus,
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  Speaker 1: and then later on in the chapter he actually tells Philemen,
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  Speaker 1: I will pay back everything he stole from you. I
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  Speaker 1: will pay it back because he is my brother in Christ,
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  Speaker 1: and he is your brother in Christ. You know, slaves
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  Speaker 1: generally were never treated well. They were generally treated in
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  Speaker 1: a subhuman kind of way. People did not believe that
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  Speaker 1: slaves had equality with freemen. And yet Paul was breaking
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  Speaker 1: those barriers by saying, every single person has been created
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  Speaker 1: equal in God's eyes. And that is what he says
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  Speaker 1: right here, going back to Colossians chapter four, verse nine,
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  Speaker 1: Anisimus is the faithful and beloved brother, not a slave,
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  Speaker 1: but a brother who is one of you. We talked
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  Speaker 1: last week about how Christianity was what eventually completely dismantled slavery. Unfortunately,
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  Speaker 1: it took a long time. You know, slavery was very
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  Speaker 1: common for a long time. But Paul's words, teaching the
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  Speaker 1: equality of slaves was countercultural for the time period and
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  Speaker 1: had almost immediate effects. Phileman was written probably at the
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  Speaker 1: exact same time that Colossians was. In fact, it's very
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  Speaker 1: likely that Anisimus himself delivered the letter to Philemen when
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  Speaker 1: Paul was sending him to Colossie. Right here. Very likely
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  Speaker 1: Anisimus was delivering this letter to Phileman. And you can imagine,
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  Speaker 1: you know, if Phileman was a strong Christian who believed
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  Speaker 1: in God, who believed the scriptures, and who believed the
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  Speaker 1: words of Paul, that he would accept Anisimus back and
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  Speaker 1: also treat him as a brother in Christ. But continuing forward,
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  Speaker 1: Paul says in verse ten, aristarkis my fellow prisoner. Greets you. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I think this is referring to Acts chapter nineteen, because
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  Speaker 1: Aristarkus is mentioned in Acts nineteen. He got arrested when
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  Speaker 1: Paul was in Ephesus. Paul was in Ephesus for a
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  Speaker 1: very long period of time. Aristarkus was with him during that,
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  Speaker 1: and the city got into this big riot over Paul
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  Speaker 1: and his ministry and the Gospel of Jesus. Here's what
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  Speaker 1: Acts nineteen, Verse twenty nine says the whole city was
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  Speaker 1: filled with confusion, and they rushed with one accord into
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  Speaker 1: the theater, having seized Gaius and Aristarkus, men of Macedonia,
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  Speaker 1: Paul's companions in travel. So poor Aristarkus, while being in Ephesus,
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  Speaker 1: was caught in the crossfire of this giant riot that
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  Speaker 1: took place and was arrested. So I think when Paul
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  Speaker 1: calls Aristarchus his fellow prisoner in Christ, he very well
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  Speaker 1: could be referring to that when Aristarchus was arrested. Though
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  Speaker 1: Aristarkus I believe was released from prison pretty quickly after that,
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  Speaker 1: because he traveled again with Paul in Acts chapter twenty,
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  Speaker 1: which was very soon after that riot had taken place.
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  Speaker 1: So he says, Aristarkas my fellow prisoner, A greets you
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  Speaker 1: and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas concerning whom you received instructions.
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  Speaker 1: If he comes to you, receive him. And we know
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  Speaker 1: a lot about Mark. He was the guy obviously that
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  Speaker 1: wrote the Book of Mark. He was not one of
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  Speaker 1: Jesus's disciples, but he was a very good friend of Peter.
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  Speaker 1: Mark and Paul kind of had like a checkered history
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  Speaker 1: because Mark had abandoned Paul for whatever reason, we're not
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  Speaker 1: exactly sure why, but Mark abandoned Paul's ministry for a while.
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  Speaker 1: Paul got so angry about that that he and Barnabas
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  Speaker 1: split up because Mark was Barnabas's cousin, and for that matter,
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  Speaker 1: Barnabas sided with Mark. Paul was mad about that, so
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  Speaker 1: Barnabas and Paul go on their separate ways. That's when
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  Speaker 1: we see in the Book of Acts Paul switching his
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  Speaker 1: companion from Barnabas to Silas. It was over Mark. But
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  Speaker 1: later on, as is shown right here, Paul and Mark
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  Speaker 1: mend things and are no longer fighting. They're able to
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  Speaker 1: get along once again. In fact, Paul says to the Colossians,
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  Speaker 1: he says, when Mark comes to you, receive him. He
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  Speaker 1: is a fellow brother in Christ, so receive him. And
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  Speaker 1: then in verse eleven, Paul continues, he says, and also Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: who is called Justice, greets you. Now we have no
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  Speaker 1: clue who this guy is other than the fact that
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  Speaker 1: he goes by two names, which is Jesus and also Justice. Now,
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  Speaker 1: the name Jesus was actually very common in Paul's day.
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  Speaker 1: The name Jesus is actually the Greek form of Joshua. Technically,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus's name in Hebrew would have been Joshua, but many
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  Speaker 1: people went by the Greek forms of their names. But
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  Speaker 1: this guy, Jesus in verse eleven here goes by the
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  Speaker 1: name Justice instead of Jesus, whereas Justice was the Latin
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  Speaker 1: form of the name Jesus or Joshua. So it gets
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  Speaker 1: kind of confusing because there are so many languages taking
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  Speaker 1: place at this time that people had two or three
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  Speaker 1: names on occasion, and so this Jesus Justice guy is
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  Speaker 1: one of those those people. Now I don't know exactly
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  Speaker 1: why he didn't go by Jesus. You know, people don't
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  Speaker 1: really name their kids Jesus even to this day. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: there is like Heesus, I guess in Spanish, and there
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  Speaker 1: is Joshua. But the name Jesus is just kind of special.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know any Jesus is. People would probably look
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  Speaker 1: at you very funny if you named your kid Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: So it's just a special name. And I imagine that
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Justice went by Justice because he felt the name
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  Speaker 1: Jesus was just too holy for him. At least that's
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  Speaker 1: my interpretation of this. But then Paul says, these are
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  Speaker 1: my only fellow workers for God's kingdom who are of
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  Speaker 1: the circumcision, men who have been a comfort to me.
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  Speaker 1: Now that's interesting because these men that Paul have mentioned
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  Speaker 1: so far, these are the only Jews, because Paul specifically
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  Speaker 1: says they are of the circumcision, so that means they
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  Speaker 1: are Jewish Men. So the rest of the people that
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  Speaker 1: Paul is going to mention here are not Jews. And
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  Speaker 1: there's actually more non Jews than there are Jews that
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  Speaker 1: were helping Paul. And that's not a political statement or anything.
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  Speaker 1: That's just it's amazing how quickly the gospel spread to
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  Speaker 1: these gentiles, that there were so many that Paul knew
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  Speaker 1: who loved Jesus, loved the Gospel, and were comforting Paul
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  Speaker 1: during his time of distress. So he goes into the
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  Speaker 1: non Jewish men. Now Epiphras, who is one of you,
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  Speaker 1: a servant of Christ, salutes you, always striving for you
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  Speaker 1: in his prayers that you may stand perfect and complete
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  Speaker 1: in all the will of God. Now Epiphras was mentioned
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  Speaker 1: earlier in Colossians. Paul actually credits him as being the
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  Speaker 1: one who carried the good news to the Colossians. He says,
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  Speaker 1: you heard it from Epiphra's or you learned it rather
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  Speaker 1: from Epiphras, our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful
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  Speaker 1: servant of Christ on your behalf, who also declared to
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  Speaker 1: us your love in the spirit. So Epiphris was a
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  Speaker 1: friend of Paul's, and he is credited as being the
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  Speaker 1: founder of the Colossian Church. Paul did not plant the
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  Speaker 1: Colossian Church. Someone else did. It was planted by a
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  Speaker 1: gentile man named Epiphras. Paul gives him a very very
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  Speaker 1: nice description here in Colossians chapter four. He says, Epiphras,
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  Speaker 1: who is one of you, is a servant of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: He salutes you, always striving for you in his prayers,
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  Speaker 1: that you may stand perfect and complete in all the
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  Speaker 1: will of God. For I testify about him that he
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  Speaker 1: is great zeal for you, and for those in Ladicea,
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  Speaker 1: and for those in Kiropolis. Now those three cities were
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  Speaker 1: very close to each other. They were all in the
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  Speaker 1: Likeas valley in Turkey, only a handful of miles apart
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  Speaker 1: from each other. And Epiphras had a heart for just
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  Speaker 1: that region, Thelycus valley region. And it seems to me
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  Speaker 1: that after Epiphras spread the Gospel and planted the church
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  Speaker 1: in Colossie. He did not stay there. He actually, it
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  Speaker 1: sounds like, was with Paul. He went to go see
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  Speaker 1: Paul and talk to him, very likely about the church
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  Speaker 1: that he had just planted, which was why maybe Paul
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  Speaker 1: was sending this letter to the Colossians when he heard
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  Speaker 1: about some of the issues that were happening in the area.
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  Speaker 1: But regardless, ep the First had a heart for this region,
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  Speaker 1: and Paul certainly confirms that. Then Paul mentions Luke in
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  Speaker 1: verse fourteen. He says, Luke the beloved physician, and demus
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  Speaker 1: greet you. Even though Luke is only mentioned here for
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  Speaker 1: like a second, we find out quite a bit about
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  Speaker 1: him that we did not know before. First and foremost,
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  Speaker 1: this is the first and only time that he is
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  Speaker 1: mentioned being a physician. We did not know that about
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  Speaker 1: Luke before. We did know he was one of Paul's friends,
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  Speaker 1: and we know that he wrote the Book of Luke,
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  Speaker 1: but we did not know he was a physician until
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  Speaker 1: just now. So he was a doctor. He was a
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  Speaker 1: beloved doctor, says But we also know something else now.
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  Speaker 1: We find out that Luke was a gentile, whereas we
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  Speaker 1: did not know that before, because he is not mentioned
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  Speaker 1: in the list of all of the Jews that had
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  Speaker 1: comforted Paul in verses seven through eleven, he is mentioned
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  Speaker 1: with the Gentiles. So Luke, who was a non Gentile,
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  Speaker 1: wrote a significant portion of the New Testament, which shows
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  Speaker 1: that the Gospel message is for everybody. It's not for
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  Speaker 1: one race of people, it's for everybody. And I just
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  Speaker 1: find that really, really amazing. So actually, just from this
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  Speaker 1: short little mention here we find out quite a bit
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  Speaker 1: about Luke, whereas we did not know any of this before.
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  Speaker 1: Then in verse fifteen we learned about somebody named Nymphis.
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  Speaker 1: And depending on what version you read, it's going to
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  Speaker 1: call Nymphis either him or her. It says, greet the
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  Speaker 1: brothers who are in Ladicea with Nymphis and the assembly
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  Speaker 1: that is in his house. Switch over to any other
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  Speaker 1: more modern version, it's going to say, greet the brothers
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  Speaker 1: who are with Nympha in her house. Now, how that
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  Speaker 1: ended up happening was when Paul wrote this letter, there's
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  Speaker 1: like a little accent that was supposed to go above
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  Speaker 1: one of the letters on Nympha's name, And depending on
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  Speaker 1: where that little accent went, it determined whether the person
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  Speaker 1: was male or female. But since Paul did not include it,
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  Speaker 1: which was a very common thing in these days, was
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  Speaker 1: to not include accents, people were not sure if Nympha
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  Speaker 1: was a male or a female. So some versions translated
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  Speaker 1: as Nymphus in his house and others translated it as
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  Speaker 1: Nympha in her house. Now, if you read about things
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  Speaker 1: like this online, you're gonna see, oh, you know, the patriarchy.
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  Speaker 1: When people translated scripture, they were, you know, trying to
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  Speaker 1: make it look like women can't have churches in their
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  Speaker 1: households because they're sexist. And but here's what's really funny
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  Speaker 1: about that. Every single house church that we see in
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  Speaker 1: the New Testament has a female associated with it. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: the big one was Priscilla and Aquilla. They were a
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  Speaker 1: married couple that had a church in their house. Another
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  Speaker 1: famous person that had a home church was Lydia, the
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  Speaker 1: seller of Purple. I believe she's talked about in Acts
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  Speaker 1: chapter sixteen. So there's another home church that was in
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  Speaker 1: a woman's house. And then we have in the Book
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  Speaker 1: of Philemon a woman mentioned named a Fea, who was
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  Speaker 1: most likely Philemon's wife, and they had a church inside
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  Speaker 1: of their house as well. Here's what that says, Philemon
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  Speaker 1: one verse one, Paul a prisoner of Christ, Jesus and
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  Speaker 1: Timothy our brother, to Phileman, our beloved fellow worker, to
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  Speaker 1: the beloved of Fear, to Archipas, our fellow soldier, and
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  Speaker 1: to the assembly in your house, Grace to you and
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: So there's another home church where a woman is mentioned.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Every single home church has a woman associated with it.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: So I think it's silly to assume that the reason
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: the translators decided to make Nympha's name a masculine name
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: because they were like part of the patriarchy or whatever,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: or didn't want women to have churches in their houses.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: I think that's kind of ridiculous, because you'd think they
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: do that to all of the other churches that are
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: meeting inside of all of these other women's homes, and
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: not just this person Nympha right here. Now, all of
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: that being said, most people believe these days that Nympha
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: is a female, and most translations will say Nympha and
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: the church that meets in her house, and pretty much
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: all biblical scholars now agree that Nympha was in fact
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: a female, which is the Church of Leiadica, which brings
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: us to another interesting point where the Church of Ladicea
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: was not a very good church. They were considered to
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: be the lukewarm church that God got pretty angry at.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: In the Book of Revelation, Revelation chapter three, fourteen through
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: twenty two gives this warning to the Ladicea in church.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: To the Angel of the Assembly in Laidica right the Amen,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: the faithful and true witness the beginning of God's creation,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: says these things. I know your works, that you are
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: I will vomit you out of my mouth. Because you
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: say I am rich and have gotten riches, and have
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: need of nothing, and don't know that you are the
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: wretched one, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: may become rich, and white garments that you may clothe yourselves,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: And an eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: may see as many as I love, I reprove and chasten.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: Be zealous therefore and repent. Behold, I stand at the
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: the door, then I will come into him and will
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: dine with him, and he with me. So that's a
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: pretty strong warning that God gives the Laydicea in church,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: mainly because Layadicea was actually a very very wealthy city
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: in the Likest Valley. It was so wealthy actually that
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: when this big earthquake hit it in eighty seventeen, the
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: people fused help from the Romans and just did it
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: all themselves, like, funded it themselves and built the city
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: up again. That's how wealthy they were. They had a
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: lot of things going for them. Specifically, they had a
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: school of health that was very very famous. They also
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: invented this like eye ointment that was just wanted all
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: over the world for its healing properties for the eyes,
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: which is why God here in revelation actually mentions that
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: I balm. He's like, find I solve to anoint your
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: eyes that you may see because Leadsia was known for
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: their their eye balm, I guess, but Laiadicea, unfortunately was
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: a lukewarm church, very likely because of their wealth and
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: the fact that they did not recognize their abundant need
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: for a savior. But going back to Colossians chapter four
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: to finish up, Paul asks in verse sixteen for the
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: letter to the Colassians to be read in Laiadicea as well.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: He says, when this letter has been read among you,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: cause it also to be read in the assembly of
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: the Ladiceans, and that you also read the letter from Ladicea.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: Tell Archipas, take heed to the ministry which you've received
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: in the Lord that you fulfill it. Now, this guy,
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: Archipus very well could be the same guy in the
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Book of Philemon that was mentioned here in verse one,
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: or rather verse two. Remember we're just talking about Philemon's wife,
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: a Fia. She is mentioned in verse two, but also
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: Archipus once again is mentioned. So some assume that Archipas
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: is Phileman's son and they all had a house church together,
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: And for some reason, Paul gives Archipus this like warning
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: at the very end here he says, take heed to
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: the ministry which you've received in the Lord that you
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: fulfill it. I have no clue what that means. I
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: don't know what Paul was trying to say to Archpas,
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: but apparently Archpis had something very important that he needed
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: to do and complete without fear, so Paul encourages him
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: to not have fear. Then, in verse eighteen, Paul concludes
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: by saying, I write this greeting with my own hand,
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: remember my chains. Grace be with you a men. I
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: think the one thing we can take away from today's chapter,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: even though we don't really know who these people are
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: all that much, is that God sees us all. We
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: are all created equal under Him, equal in value. I
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: should say. We are not all given the same opportunities
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: in life, but we are equal in value. And because
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: of that, God sees us, and God sees all these
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: men and women possibly that Paul mentioned right here, and
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: God chose to bless them for generations by writing their
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: name down in scripture right so that everybody can see
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: who these people are and learn from them and learn
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: that even though we don't have a big role in ministry,
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: God does see our work and will in fact bless us. So,
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: faithful listeners, I hope you enjoyed the Book of Colossians.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: We will be moving into First Thessalonians on Thursday, and
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: will be in Thessalonians a little bit longer because there's
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: two of them. There's First Thessalonians and a second Thessalonians.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: And I'm super duper excited to delve into Thessalonians because
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: this is where we're going to get into the rapture.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: This is where Paul talks about Jesus's second coming, and
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: I'm very excited to delve into all of that with you.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: So I hope you tune in on Thursday as we
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: start in First Thessalonians, chapter one, but also tune in
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: tomorrow because tomorrow is the Old Testament side of stuff,
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: where we will be talking about First Chronicles and discussing
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: more about the life of David. So tune in then
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: six am or whenever you choose to wake up and listen.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: So faithful listeners until tomorrow, happy listening, and God bless