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Colossians - An Analytical Deep Dive of Chapter One · CyberBlessed

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Music.
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Okay, well, we're going to Colossians chapter 1 tonight.
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And before we do, I wanted to read you a poem by Lynelle Johnson called A Good News Day.
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It's a good news day, no blues day, new shoes, no way to lose, what a good news day.
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It's a great day, I can't wait day, lift your voice, let's rejoice, my lord, a good news day.
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It's a pay day going my way day no nay all yay what you say such a good news day.
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It's a live it up day overflowing cup day
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it's a bright and bubbly doubly lovely show enough good news day i think that
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sets the heart of colossians so we go to verse one paul an apostle of jesus
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Christ by the will of God and Timotheus, our brother.
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First of all, it's Paul again writing to the believers.
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He was the one that fathered them in the word, that started the movement of
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the word in that province of Asia, and Colossae was a part of that province.
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Remember, he spent two years and three months in Asia, in which all the word
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heard, all of Asia heard the word of the And that means Colossians,
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the Colossians had to hear about it too during that time.
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And it says an apostle, he was an apostle or one who is sent.
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An apostle is one who is sent to bring new light to a generation.
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It may be old light, but it's new to that generation.
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And of course, the things that were revealed to Paul at this time that he brought
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to the people regarding the mystery had never been made known before.
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And therefore, it was totally new light to that generation.
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And it says an apostle of Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is the correct order.
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It's not Christ Jesus, because an apostle is one who serves.
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And whenever it's in the category of service or the context of service,
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it will put Jesus the humiliated one first followed by Christ the glorified
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one otherwise it would put the glorified one first Christ Jesus but in this
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context it's service he's an apostle so he's an apostle of whom?
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Of Jesus Christ putting the emphasis on
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the humiliated one or the service an
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apostle of Jesus Christ or as we translated it
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jesus christ apostle by the
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will of god the word will is that
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greek word the lama t-h-e l long e m-a the lama and it means the intense desire
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there's another word that means absolute determination but this is not it this
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is not that word for will in the sense of absolutely determining something.
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It's the intense desire.
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Now, determination could also be included, but the emphasis is on God's intense desire.
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That's how he became an apostle.
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Not because you wanted to, or I wanted to, or because Paul wanted to.
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That's not how you get a ministry. It's because because of God's intense desire,
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he knows what the needs are, and he's working in your heart to will and to do
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of his good pleasure, and as long as you don't have your foot on the hose, God can work with you.
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But you've got to get your foot off the hose sometimes. So, by the will,
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the intense desire of God.
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And, Timotheus, an apostle? No. Timotheus, a brother. A brother,
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power is in italics, a brother, he's not here referred to as an apostle,
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but he was simply one of the brothers.
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I think that is significant.
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Because, first of all, Paul was a Judean in background.
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Timothy, his father, was a Greek. His mother was a Judean, but his father,
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the bloodline, was a Greek.
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So you have both a Judean and a Gentile, a Greek in background.
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Writing, and they're writing with unity of purpose because of the one body that brought them together.
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And what's the context of colossians the
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mystery the one body and the big problem
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is not holding the head who is
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christ so here's timothy
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a greek basically in background because
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of his father and paul a judean
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in background writing together to the
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colossians and it's one body the mystery
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that'll become more significant later and he's
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a brother a brother paul was
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the apostle he was the one that fathered them in the word timothy was a brother
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and yet they learned many things from timothy later on in first timothy paul
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says he sent him back to asia to ordain certain people and do a lot of things,
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get things running in order in Asia,
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because Timothy was one of the tremendous leaders at that time.
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But Timothy, he's here called a brother.
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I think of this in many of our lives. Dr. Werwell's the one that fathered all of us in the Word, right?
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But I'm not your father, or Reverend Martindale, or others in the ministry,
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other leaders. We're brothers.
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We're brothers, and I've always looked on the core as my brothers.
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I certainly don't look at you as my children.
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A whole different situation. But you've got one father in a family,
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but you've got many brothers.
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And maybe I'm a little older brother, been around a little longer,
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and sometimes you can learn from your older brother, sometimes you fight with your older brothers.
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But that's neither here nor there. The relationship is different, understand?
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Same way with our other leaders. we're
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more like brothers and some of them if you know if they're your leader they
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may be an older brother in the body so i think it's a tremendous title for timothy
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here because you need that father and you need that brother that you work with
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and it's one body now to the saints,
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and faithful brethren in christ which are at colossi the word saints is that
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word that means means holy or a separated one.
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One who is set apart. He's separated, set apart.
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He's holy. That's what the word holy means.
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And the word faithful means one who believes.
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In Aramaic, literally it says a believing one.
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One who believes or believing you could translate it.
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A faithful person is one who is believing. I'm not an unbeliever,
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but he's believing to the point that he is faithful, he's steadfast.
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He continues to believe in his walk.
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And then it says, brothers. This is the only church epistle that addresses them
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as brothers in the opening salutation.
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Now remember in the book of Galatians, it called them brothers a number of times,
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times, but not in the opening salutation.
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This is the only epistle that addresses them as brothers in the opening salutation,
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because they were brothers, like Timothy was a brother.
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They were all part of that one body, and God is the Father, but we're all brothers.
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In addition to that, the word separated one and believing, both are adjectives which modify brothers.
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Now you don't get that from the King James where it says saints,
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but if you translated it holy or set apart, then you'd get that idea.
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These are holy and faithful brothers or set apart and believing brothers.
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See that?
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In Christ.
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Many of the manuscripts in Greek read, In Christ Jesus.
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The Aramaic reads, In Jesus Christ.
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But the Aramaic normally uses that phrase for, In Christ Jesus,
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because of their language.
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Very seldom, I think only four or five times, you see the order Christ Jesus in the Aramaic.
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But that's because of their language. They wouldn't do it that way as a rule.
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But here you have in Christ Jesus in many of the manuscripts,
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and I believe that that's what it should be because Ephesians 1.1 starts out
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with Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,
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to the saints and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.
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Philippians also, chapter 1.
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Starts out, Paul and Timothy, it's the servants of Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ Jesus.
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I think all three of these are addressed to those who are in Christ Jesus.
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In other words, it's more than just that they're born again.
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They're getting more than the foundational doctrine. They're getting the advanced class,
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which reminds me that advanced class is
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just the best class in the world today i think um
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every time i see those things
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it just blows my mind besides that it's funny you know it's better than watching
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any movie or anything else i mean
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it's got everything in it besides the greatness of God's Word and truth.
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And boy, it teaches you the principles of walking by the Spirit.
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Absolutely tremendous.
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Well, anyway, this was the advanced class of their time.
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Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. And they're not addressed to the neophyte.
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They're not addressed to the newly born-again believer that needs the foundational doctrine.
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They're addressed to those that are holy, set
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apart and faithful in christ jesus they're
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identified with christ jesus and
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they're in fellowship with him they're not just you
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know tagging along or just having to get excited
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and now they moved into the fellowship but they're really steadfast in the fellowship
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they're in christ jesus identified with him that's why all three of these epistles
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must start with that title or with that phrase in Christ Jesus.
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Then it says, Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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In the Aramaic, it reverses these. Peace and grace. Just like it did in Ephesians.
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Ephesians is peace and grace.
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And there's a reason, I'm not sure I understand all the greatness of it,
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But the end product of this great knowledge of the mystery,
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where it's one body, neither Judean nor Gentile, is that there's peace in the body.
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Ephesians chapter 2 dwells so much on that peace.
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There's no longer a division between Judean and Gentile, but God's broken down
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that middle wall of partition, making what? Peace. Peace.
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And not only peace with each other, but peace with whom? With God.
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Ephesians chapter 2, you ought to read it sometime. Peace.
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And it's because of the grace. And that grace is what makes it available.
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But peace is the big thing in the one body.
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And that's what Ephesians and Colossians is all about, the great doctrine of the mystery.
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Philippians simply corrects the practical error. But Colossians,
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the doctrinal error, and Ephesians sets the doctrine.
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So, peace and grace is good enough for me in both of those epistles.
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And it's the only two epistles that invert that. Everything else else, grace and peace.
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From God our Father. The phrase, and the Lord Jesus Christ is not in the Aramaic
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and most of the critical Greek texts.
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I think it's fantastic that it's omitted.
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Because in every other epistle, that's what you would see as the normal greeting.
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At least most of them. I haven't checked every one, but I know it's the normal
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greeting that you would say, grace to you and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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That is the normal salutation. But why is it so tremendous that it's left off here?
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Well, Well, the problem at Colossae was they were not holding the head, right?
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They were not holding the head who is Jesus Christ.
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So then you would think there would be a reason to put it in here twice.
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Well, there's that figure ellipsis. I call this an ellipsis of the salutation,
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where you deliberately leave out something that the people would be expected are expecting to hear.
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In other words, if you're used to hearing me saying, well, grace and peace to
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you through God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, and all of a sudden I
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say, grace and peace to you through God the Father,
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what's your mind doing?
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What's your mind doing?
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It's saying, come on, tell me the rest of it, right?
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See? It's a deliberate omission. It's like, you know, music.
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Did you ever hear somebody play a song and leave the last note off?
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What's your mind doing? Go, come on, give it to me.
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You want that last note, right? Well, you want this. It's an ellipsis of the salutation.
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Because they were not holding the head, Christ, christ therefore it draws attention
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to it by leaving it out because they were leaving it out,
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now isn't that something boy i think that's terrific,
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so anyway we translate these first two verses here paul jesus christ apostle
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by god's will and Timothy, a brother,
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to the set-apart and believing brothers in Christ Jesus at Colossae.
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Peace and grace to you from God our Father.
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Period. End of greeting, salutation. Now verse 3 begins the prayer. 3 through 8.
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We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.
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First of all, it says we give thanks. Now that isn't what he normally says.
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Look at Ephesians 1, verse 15.
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Wherefore, I also, after I heard of your believing in the Lord Jesus Jesus and
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love unto all the saints cease not to give thanks for you. Who does?
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I do. I do. I, Paul, I. Is that we?
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No, it's I. Now look at Philippians 1.
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Verse 3. I thank my God upon every member to you. Who does? I do.
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Paul. yet in colossians
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he says we do we give
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thanks we who paul and timothy paul and timothy a judean in background and a
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greek in background who are now one body part of the one body see it we give thanks to God.
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Boy, oh boy, oh boy. You talk about the accuracy of
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words and in this epistle we're not holding the head part of the mystery that
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doctrinal problem what better way to say things than what has been said right
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here in these opening verses. We give thanks.
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We do. Terrific.
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And the word and the father of
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all ages that word and is omitted in many manuscripts and in the Aramaic.
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Praying always for you. The word always, in the Greek and Aramaic,
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Greek is questionable, Aramaic sets it more beautifully, but in both of them,
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it could and should go with giving thanks rather than praying.
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We give thanks always, or continually, not continuously.
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Continuously means you give thanks and pray when you're supposed to be praying,
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Not every moment of the day. You can't be doing that, folks.
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Your mind isn't made to do that. Right now, you better be writing and listening.
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You can pray when I'm telling jokes.
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If I get any. All right. Always means continually.
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Not continuously. and it modifies we give thanks, not praying.
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Praying, in turn, then also modifies the giving of thanks, and it shows you
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how we give thanks, by praying.
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So, that verse we translate, we give thanks continually to God,
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the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Christ praying for you,
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but that's not the end of the sentence.
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Now we go to verse 4. Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the
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love which you have to all the saints.
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Now this verse 4 is not a continuation of that sentence.
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It's a short parenthesis that's thrown in that's incomplete in itself and that
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type of parenthesis is called an epitrechon you know that one?
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E-P-I-T-R-E-C-H-O-N epitrechon,
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E-P-I-T-R-E-C-H-O-N It's a short parenthesis, incomplete by itself.
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Therefore, whatever verse 3 was saying, praying for you, will be continued then in verse 5.
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Because this is a sideline.
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Since we heard or having heard of your faith which is believing in Christ Jesus.
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Now, two of the manuscripts have in the Lord Jesus and the Aramaic has in Jesus
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Christ again, Again, but as I told you before, that's because of their language.
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Normally that would just be in Christ Jesus.
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And again, these are the faithful in Christ Jesus.
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And so, this is not referring just to when they first believed.
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Like you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, then that title would be appropriate.
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Appropriate but this is
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he heard of their believing which was
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in christ jesus that which set
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them apart as the more mature believers and of the love to all the saints their
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love to all the saints in other words they weren't again neophytes but they
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had and when paul had heard Heard about this.
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What did he do? He continued to thank God.
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Praying for them.
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You'll see more of this when we get to verse 5. I want to tell you also that,
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the word love is agape, the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation.
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And that the Aramaic adds the word your in front of love.
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Your love to all the saints, which is interesting because many of the Greek
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text adds the words that are in italics in a King James Version, which you have.
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That would be another way of saying your, the love which you have,
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or your love to all the saints.
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So I believe that is correct to add that there.
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So we parenthesis, having heard of your believing which is in Christ Jesus and
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your love to all those who are set apart.
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The saints, of course, are the set-apart ones. He still could have been there, right?
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We covered this last week, but not on this particular verse.
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But he heard about their believing in Christ Jesus. It was more than just believing
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in the Lord Jesus, just getting saved.
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But they, Christ Jesus, they were steadfast.
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And where did he hear that from? Well, verse 7 says,
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As ye also learned of Epaphras, our
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dear fellow servant who is for you a faithful minister
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of christ it was epiphras who taught
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him the advanced class paul could still
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have taught him the foundational things he could have been there no problem
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with that but at least epiphras was the one that taught him the greatness of
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god's word regarding the mystery and so on and what caused them to believe you
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know get settled in and they're believing in Him.
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He loved the saints with the love of God. He's the one that worked with them. Epaphras did.
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So it doesn't prove anything as far as whether Paul was there or not.
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All right. As a matter of fact, Ephesians 1.15, we read it.
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It says, Wherefore I also, after I heard of your believing Believing in the
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Lord Jesus and loved unto all the saints. Hey, wasn't Paul at Ephesus?
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Oh, if it says I heard about it, that doesn't mean Paul wasn't there. We know he was there.
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Because of the hope, or for the hope, which is laid up for you in heaven,
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whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel.
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Let me ask you a question. Is this thing cutting in and out or just my ears?
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So I got to yell once in a while so you can hear me. I'll do my best.
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Okay, for, the word for.
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In verse 5. It indicates the cause for thanks and prayer in verse 3.
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This word for indicates the cause,
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for their thanks and prayer in verse 3 and can be translated because of in both
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the Greek and Aramaic and this verse clearly defines what hope is.
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Hope is for the future hope
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which is laid up for you if something is laid up for you then it's not available
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now is it it's something you anticipate in the future hope anticipates the word
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laid up means stored Stored,
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stored for you in heaven.
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Now, the word heaven is plural, heavens, but that's because of the Hebrew idiom
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or the Semitic idiom where they would many times call things of great magnitude by the plural.
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It doesn't mean you've got several heavens.
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It means you can't talk about heaven in the singular because it's so big.
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Same way God is Elohim doesn't mean he's more than one God it just means he's
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so big you can't describe him in the singular it's a figure.
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So it's heavens, but literally it means heaven in our language.
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Whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel.
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Now that is called a dual genitive, because you have two genitives there.
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The word of the truth of the gospel. See that? Two ofs.
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It's a dual genitive, and those are rare. they're more common in Ephesians and
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Colossians than in any other epistle.
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You'll see other figures used in or emphasized in other epistles in Ephesians and Colossians.
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This is one of the unique idioms of the language or usages in the language to
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use that dual genitive for emphasis. Ephesus.
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It's the word of the truth of the gospel.
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Now, the word is the truth, right? It's the true word.
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The word is the truth. And the word is the good news, the gospel.
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So we translated it, the true word, the good news.
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The no blues, new shoes.
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That's what inspired me on that poem tonight. And it'll tie in. It's a good news.
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No blues, new shoes. Well, every day is a good news day when you're in the Word.
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And it's not just Word, it's the true Word.
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See, true describes that same Word in another way. and good news describes it in a third way.
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See, the emphasis and the impact.
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To get the sense of verse 5 now, start with verse 3 and skip 4 because of the epitrarch on there.
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We give thanks continually to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
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praying for you because of the hope which is stored in heaven for you.
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We give thanks. We give thanks. Praying for you because of the hope which is
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stored in heaven for you.
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What is the hope that's stored for you? Well, it's your internal life,
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your inheritance that goes with that internal life. And it's the reward.
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It's the rewards too. Because verse 4, that epitrechon, that short deviation or side issue.
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Explains having heard of your
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believing in Christ Jesus and your love to all those who are set apart.
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They were faithful. They had great love for the people.
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They had great believing in Christ Jesus.
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So would there be rewards?
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Sure. It just explains that a little bit more.
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See? If you haven't heard about somebody, would you pray for them? Well, you couldn't.
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But when you hear about them, and the more you hear about them,
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the more they come to your mind, the more you lift them, and throughout the
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day, God brings somebody remembrance, or you just remember them,
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and you pray for them, and see?
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And it's because of the hope. And their hope was more than eternal life.
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It included the rewards.
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Because of the word, the good news.
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They had already heard about this hope.
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They had already heard about it when Epaphras was there, and perhaps Paul too.
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But they had heard about the great hope they have in the true word, the good news.
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Since the day ye heard of it and knew the grace of God in truth,
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as ye have also learned of Epaphras, our dear fellow servant who is for you
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a faithful minister in Christ.
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First of all, the words is come. In the Greek, that's exactly what it means.
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But in the Aramaic, it's that word kroz, K-R-A-Z, kroz.
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Keras, I guess you pronounce it, there's a schwa in there, keras, means to preach.
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It's like kairuso in Greek, only kairuso is not used here in Greek.
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To preach, to proclaim,
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which is preached unto you,
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as it is in all the world. the word an is omitted in many texts and brings forth fruit.
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Most of the critical Greek texts add a phrase after that,
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it adds a word auxano a-u-x-a-n long o Oxano, what does it mean?
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Right. To grow. To increase like a plant grows. It greens.
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Greens out, or whatever you call it. It's growing. Growing.
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George Jess always uses the illustrations of trees and animals because he works with them so much.
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But Jesus Christ evidently did too, because he used a lot of illustrations of
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trees and plants and animals in his teaching. But they make great illustrations.
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Here's one using the tree. The tree grows and it bears fruit every year.
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A tree greens out, it grows a little bigger, and it produces what?
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Fruit. And if it stops producing fruit, Might as well get out the axe and have
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yourself firewood, right?
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But as long as it keeps growing and bearing fruit, those two things, you've got a good tree.
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Well, that word, the true word, the good news with no blue,
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is preached unto you as it is in all the world, and it brings forth fruit and
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growth. Growth. It grows.
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As it does, well, brings forth fruit and grows where?
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What was the last thing we left off? In all the world.
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Then as it doth also in you, now he brings it back to you.
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What you have here is a beautiful introversion. A, B, B, A.
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You see, which has come to you or has preached to you, as in all the world, you, the world.
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Then it bringeth forth fruit, where?
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In the world, as it does in you.
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So it goes, preached to you, the word, the true word, the good news,
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was preached to you, it's preached to the world.
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So it brings forth fruit and growth in the world and in you. Isn't that beautiful?
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Beautiful chiastic structure or introversion.
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ABBA.
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So
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It's not just at Colossae, but it's the word over the world.
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It's the word or reaching the world with the word, Word, which depends on cries, preaching, go tell.
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Great theme verse, isn't it? The true Word, the good news, which is preached
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to you as in all the world.
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Reaching the world with the Word, go tell. And what happens when you do reach
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the world with the Word by going and telling, it brings forth fruit and growth,
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in the world as it does in you.
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Since the day ye heard and knew the grace of God in truth.
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For the grace of God in all of its truth.
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In truth, that would be the idiomatic way of saying that. In all of its truth,
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in all of its beauty, in all of its fullness.
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Another word here, the word new, K-N-E-W. I tell you, these verses are packed.
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That word new in Greek is epigenosko. E-P-I-G-N-O, long O, S-K, long O. Epigenosko.
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Epigenosko, you know, means to know full or fully and completely.
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To have full, precise, complete, exact knowledge.
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The Aramaic word is Yada. Y-A-D-A.
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Another very important word. Because it means to know. Yada.
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However, Yada here is used in the extra extensive form.
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The extra-extensive form is that fourth form,
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that we'll get to in Colossians 2.10 where you've read about it in one of the collateral readings.
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You are completely, completely, completely complete. Remember that?
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That's the extra-extensive. Only used a few times.
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It's not used in overabundance in the New Testament.
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But it really intensifies the meaning. it's the extra extensive form.
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And so what does it mean then to know that you know that you know that you know.
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So it has the same idea as that Greek word to really know it to really know
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it to know it fully and completely boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy.
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Extra extensive English so anyway then as you learned of,
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Epaphras, the word also is omitted,
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in most of the text again. Epaphras was the one that taught them the great truth,
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the all truth of the Word.
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They knew the grace of God in truth.
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It was that truth that really worked with them. in that province of Asia.
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Of course, he's mentioned in chapter 4, in verse 12,
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Epaphras, who is one of you, a doulos of Christ, salutes you.
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So he was with Paul at Rome at this time.
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Always laboring fervently for you in prayer.
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Agonizomai, laboring. He was in the contest, really working fervently for you. In what?
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Prayers. Why? Well, he wasn't there with them.
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So he'd still labor for them, but in prayer.
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If he was there with them, he'd be teaching them. He'd be with them.
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He'd be fellowshipping. He'd be ministering to their needs.
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And praying. But now he's not, so what's he doing? He's agonizomai-ing in prayer.
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That you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
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And it says, Epaphras, who is one of you. He's one of you.
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So he was from Colossae. But where did he learn this knowledge of the all-truths?
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Paul was in Ephesus for how long? Two years, three months.
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Where was he teaching for two of those years? In a school of Tyrannus.
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I think Epaphras must have been somebody that came from Colossae to Ephesus,
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got in the core at Tyrannus,
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and took it back to Colossae. Now doesn't that make good sense? The school of Tyrannus?
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So he was a core grad, studied at the school of Tyrannus undoubtedly and returned
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to his hometown of Colossus.
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He went back and they were glad he did.
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Well, anyway.
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Ephras, our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ.
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Minister is diakonos, D-I-A-K-O-N-O-S in Greek.
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And that's a word we've had before. It's one who has proven himself and serves
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in any capacity, a deacon, anyone who serves in any capacity,
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as long as he has first proven himself.
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A minister of christ why does it say of christ and why doesn't it say of jesus christ,
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i think because it's the mystery it's christ in you what did he teach him he's
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the one that taught him the mystery he's the one that taught him it's christ
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in you the hope of glory when he was first there,
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And it says he's a dear or beloved fellow servant. The word fellow servant.
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In Aramaic, it's kanatha. K-N-A-T-H-A.
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In Greek, it's sun, doulos. S-U-N and then doulos.
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And it means a slave together, bond slave together.
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The emphasis of the use of fellow servant in Colossians ties directly into the
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correction of their doctrinal error of the epistle.
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One of the main problems at Colossae was their failure to hold Christ as the head.
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Christ was the head.
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In Colossians 1.7 and again in 4.7, Epaphras and Tychicus are singled out by
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the use of this word, fellow slave,
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as examples to the Colossians of the correct lifestyle.
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If Christ is the head of the one body, And that makes us servants, slaves, bond slaves.
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But we are slaves together. Sundulas. See it?
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In the one body. And that's the key. Or a key to the success of the one body.
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Is not trying to be lords. Over God's heritage. But willing to be a bond slave.
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But not each slave going his own direction. But working together under that
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one head. Isn't that terrific?
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Great example. Epiphras was too. The word fellow slave occurs ten times in the New Testament.
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Five times in Matthew, three times in the book of Revelation,
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and twice here in Colossians.
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I gave both of those to you, Colossians 1.7 and 4.7.
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In Matthew, those five occurrences literally refer to fellow servants or slaves,
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men whose occupations were bond slaves who worked together in the same household.
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They didn't work at cross purposes, they worked together.
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The occurrences in the book of Revelation refer to those who served in the same
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way during the same time.
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Matter of fact, a voice from heaven and an angel also call themselves fellow slaves with John.
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In Colossians, the fellow slave refers to the bond slave of Christ.
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The word fellow servant literally means a bond servant, Servant,
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doulos, together with sun, together with another.
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To be a doulos requires totally selling out to one's master.
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The servant belongs to him and is branded with his mark.
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We are branded with the speaking in tongues.
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Epaphras and Tychicus were sundulos, with Paul and the believers.
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Both Epaphras and Tychicus worked with Paul.
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The number of references to
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that effect. Epaphras is called a faithful minister and servant of Christ,
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laboring fervently for you in prayers, and a fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus.
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He is mentioned both at the opening and closing of Colossians.
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In chapter 1, Epaphras communicated the spiritual love the believers of Colossae
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had for Paul and Timothy.
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In chapter 4, Paul communicated the great zeal that Epaphras had for the believers
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in Colossae, Laodicea, and Heriopolis.
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Specifically praying for their standing to be perfect and complete in all the will of God.
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Tychicus is called twice a beloved brother and faithful minister.
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Tychicus also traveled with Paul.
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Jesus Christ paid the price of redemption for every man and therefore is the
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master. The believer has been called to a family with Christ as the head.
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The Colossians needed to acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Lord and to sell
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out as bond slaves in service to him as Epaphroditus and Tychicus had.
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And of course that will be central when we get to Colossians chapter 3 where
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he says, renew your mind.
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Set your affection on things above and not on things on the earth.
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See, we're to think heavenly thoughts. Get our thoughts up there on the head, on Christ.
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As bond slaves working together in the body.
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And this is the greatness of holding the head. the greatness of holding the
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head is serving together in the
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body that's why he's called the bond slave together with that sun prefix,
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so verses 6 and 7,
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you got to start to get 6 you got to start way back in the middle of verse 5,
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you previously heard about this hope in the true word and don't forget the emphasis
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that dual genitive in Greek and Aramaic, the true word, the good news,
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which has been preached to you, even as it is preached in all the world.
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So it produces fruit and growth in all the world, even as it has in you from
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the day you first heard and fully knew with precise knowledge,
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God's grace in all its truth.
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From the day you first heard and knew that, fully knew it, God's grace in all of its truth.
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When Epaphras declared it, the advanced class.
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Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, the mystery, the one body,
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you learned this truth verse 7 from
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epiphras our beloved fellow
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slave who is a faithful servant of
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christ on your behalf then verse 8 who also declared unto us your love in the
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spirit love is agape the love of god in the renewed mind and manifestation which
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they heard about up in verse Verse 4, Paul heard about it.
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Where did he hear it from? Epiphras.
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Epiphras. They not only loved the saints, they loved Paul and Timothy.
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And Epiphras related that to them. And it's love in the Spirit.
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Spirit there is usage 6. Spiritual. Spiritual.
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So we translated it, He has related your spiritual love for us.
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Isn't that a tremendous section? I'd like to read it again to you,
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the whole thing, starting from the beginning.
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Paul, Jesus Christ's apostle, by God's will, and Timothy, a brother.
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To the set-apart and believing brothers in Christ Jesus at Colossae.
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Peace and grace to you from God our Father.
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We give thanks continually to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
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praying for you, having heard of your believing which is in Christ Jesus and
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your love to all those who are set apart,
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because of the hope which is stored in heaven for you.
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You previously heard about this hope in the true word,
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the good news which has been
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preached to you even as it is
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preached in all the world so it produces
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fruit and growth in all the world even as it has in you from the day you first
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heard and fully do with precise knowledge god's grace in all its truth you learn
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this truth from epiphras our our beloved fellow slave,
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who is a faithful servant of Christ on your behalf.
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He has related your spiritual love for us.
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See, they weren't way out in left field like the Galatians that we studied last fall.
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They weren't into that type of doctrinal error from the foundational doctrine.
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They just weren't holding the head, which is the great mystery.
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And that's where it starts.
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And that starts with not being willing to serve together in one body.
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All you say, I'm willing to serve, but I'm going to do it my way.
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Then you're pulling in different directions. You're not equally yoked.
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We're bond slaves together. Christ is
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the head no man is the head you
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know other than Christ but no other man
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is the head here upon earth crisis is the
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head of the body and we are bond slaves together working together and we must
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hold that head and serve the bread of life to people reaching the world with
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the word it was preached to you and And when that word lives, not only with you,
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but in other areas all over the world.
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And with this knowledge that you have of the world, it ought to live.
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It ought to live like it lives in Zaire. I mean, move like it moves in Zaire.
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Right here in the United States, you think that's impossible?
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No! We blame it on culture, we blame it on this, that. at the end. Baloney!
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The word ought to move. We ought to get excited about it. We ought to go out
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there and talk to everything that moves.
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Doggone it when you were out there on lightbearers. Didn't things happen?
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Why shouldn't that happen every day of your life when you're out there on the field?
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Boy, it ought to. And when the word lives and moves in an area, what happens?
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It produces fruit and growth in all the world.
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Even as it does in you, to wherever you are in your core, when you're out there
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on the field, boy, you ought to make it your goal.
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It's a lightbearer's day every day, reaching the world with the word, go tell.
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It's a good news day every day when you know this word and can put it together.
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Music.