Colossians Lesson 7 Week 3

Okay, I'm pinch hitting for Courtney because, you know, Courtney talks a good game, but when the old dollar speaks, he's gone. He calls me yesterday, he says, I'm on a well, and I got 24 hours and I got to go. And Nick says, well, all he does is say, yeah, it's 14 feet. Yeah, it's 24 feet and he's done, you know? Okay. Anyway, so he had, we had gotten, we're in Colossians, we are in, What lesson are we in? Seven? Six? Seven. And we've gotten down to question five. Am I right about that? Come on. Nobody nodded. Okay.

In verse 25, Paul says, Paul received a stewardship from God. Describe what it was. First of all, tell me what a stewardship is. What's a stewardship? And if you know what it is, do you have one? One definition I read was household management. Household management. Oh, that's a great one. You know, we have this 25 cent word that we mention around here. Most reform type people hate this word. They think it's a Christian cuss word. It's called dispensationalism. Dispensationalism means stewardship.

So within the household of God, there's order. but not everybody's the same. And within the household of God, every member has a responsibility or a stewardship. So Paul has a stewardship. Do all of you have stewardship? You better say yes, because we're going to look at them. I wouldn't want you to have a wrong answer. Paul says, Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the Word of God." So Paul has a stewardship. What is it? I have faith. What's that? Faith. No. That's not it. What is it? Preaching the Word of God. Preaching the Word of God. Weren't the other apostles doing that? Oh, the Gentiles, that's new. Isn't the Gentiles something new? Right?

So Paul's ministry was not to the nation of Israel, was it? Even though he was a Jew. So his stewardship has to do with what aspect of what he did. To reveal the truth about the church that was not revealed in the Old Testament. Okay. Was the church a concept that people understood in the Old Testament? What's the word church mean? Called out ones. Okay. Now, if you were a good godly Jew, you might think, well, I'm a called out one. I'm a Jew. Right? But he was not. His stewardship had nothing to do with Israel. Not at all. So there's this entity called the church. Well, what is so cool about the church? What is so unique about it? It's the body of Christ. What does that mean?

We're members of Him. Members of Him. Part of this ministry, which is a really important part, was this union that the Spirit of God was going to effectuate for all those who believed in the person and work of Christ, that there would be a union between Christ the head and they, the members.

Now you could never say that about Judaism, because they were followers, you know, they were a nation separated under God, but they never talked about, there was never any discussion about union with the person. What kind of a union was it? They were all Democrats? What's the union? No, for us. Yeah, wrong group. What's the union? What about Christ and me that makes the union? What are we united in? More than that. It's a union of life. We have exactly identical life that the resurrected Lord Jesus rose with. Exactly the same.

So when we see these discussions about our position in Christ and And then the second half of Paul's epistles, there's always a discussion about, well, based on this position, here's how you as a member of the body of Christ should function. Well, the functioning is based on the kind of life you have. If I were to discuss about you being a German shepherd, then I would say you're supposed to bark. Well, if you're a member of the body of Christ and a son of God and you share the same life as the Lord Jesus Christ, there are certain characteristics about that life that are unique to that life.

And you and I have no excuse because we have that life. And life is to manifest itself in the characteristics that it has. You can't get my dog to meow. just can't do it, because it's not in his life, it's not in his earthly DNA structure, because he's a dog. You're already holy, set apart to God, because you have the resurrected life of Christ.

You're united to him. The stewardship was then that Paul's job was to tell everybody about this. His job was to go around and explain, particularly to the Gentiles, but to all men, exactly what this union was all about. And that not only is it individual, but it's a corporate thing with the body of Christ.

Okay? Questions? That's not too deep for you? Okay. And it's a mystery. Question six. Peter, James, and John wrote epistles But they never stated that they were completing the Word of God. Why not? It was a mystery. Louder. It was a mystery. Oh, really? And we had to wait until the end of that program to figure out who did it? Because the Holy Spirit didn't say so. Okay. Well, we didn't know that Christ lived in us.

Yeah. Let's incorporate question seven with this question. Question seven says, when you see the word mystery in the epistle, what does it mean? Does it mean that it's a whodunit? And we have to wait till the end to figure out who the guy was that, you know, was it the butler that murdered? What is a mystery?

Previously unrevealed information. Previously unrevealed information. So nowhere in the Old Testament And even in the Gospels, even though it was kind of referred to a little bit, you can see the referral to it if you come back at it from Paul's epistles. But if you're coming up from the Old Testament, you don't see it.

This whole thing about the mystery of the body of Christ is now to be revealed. Now imagine, the Lord Jesus comes to the earth. He has twelve apostles, or disciples, and he teaches them, and then he leaves And they go and minister to the nation of Israel, and then sometime later, here comes this guy, Paul. And his ministry is totally different than those twelve.

Did those guys not know what the deal was? It's simple. You either say, yeah, they didn't, or you know they didn't. What do you think? Did they not know what was going on? Paul had great revelation. Peter especially didn't know. Peter didn't know, that's for sure.

We have him going to Centurion to duress. Yeah, I mean, Peter's over at Cornelius' house and here comes the Holy Spirit down on all these Gentiles and he's going, oh my goodness, and he runs back and tells the other guys, hey, guess what? New deal. Looks like God's going to save the Gentiles. And they're looking at him like, sure, Peter, what have you been drinking? But that's right. That's a brand new thing. Yeah, I was just going to say that maybe they started getting a clue. They started to get a clue. But even that, the most that they knew was that, well, maybe God is going to save some Gentiles. To what? To this kingdom thing? Yeah. What did Paul know that they didn't know? We've already talked about some of it.

Christ in you, the hope of glory. This union thing was a brand new revelation. This union between individuals, and it didn't matter whether you came out of Judaism or you were any number of kind of a Gentile. When you were united to Christ, guess what happened to you?

The Bible and Paul says you became an entirely new creation. Now you still look the same. I mean I've been around and some of you weren't believers and when you became believers you still looked the same. But on the spiritual realm and from God's perspective you are a brand new creation. Now if somebody converted to Judaism would they say oh gee they're a brand new creation?

No way. So that's new information. that union with Christ was going to happen, that we were all going to be united together in a body, sharing the same life, and united to the Lord Jesus Christ, resurrected and glorified. That was all brand new information.

Now, did God shortchange the Jews and the Twelve Apostles by not giving them the message? If you say no, you're going to have to explain. They were giving a ministry to the Jews. That's right. And I've always thought it was hysterical that it took 12 apostles to go to one nation and only one apostle to go to the Gentiles. Why is that? That's right. It's harder to unlearn. And was it Jewish religion from God? Well, sure it was.

Well, imagine we've got a whole new thing now coming down the pike. And I've sent some guys to wean you away from what I gave you before to something better, and they resisted it. It's like all of you people that used to be Presbyterians, it's really tough. I'm sorry, Baptists. Say that again.

By the time Jesus came along, hadn't they twisted the religion that God had given them? Yeah, the religion that was practiced in Israel at the time of Christ was not what God had given them. They had a whole other modified system. here's the Apostle Paul right and he goes up you remember when he made his first trip up to Jerusalem to talk to Peter and James and John and to check out the doctrine that was being taught was he going up there so that they he could lay out his program and they could put their okay on it or not? Is that what he was doing? You know what I'm talking about when he went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, James and John and he sat and talked to them and they talked to him and was he up there so that they would approve his message?

No, he was saying their message was wrong. Well, he didn't say it was wrong, but he went up there to make sure they were teaching the right stuff and he went up there actually to educate them about the mystery. Because they didn't know about it. God didn't reveal it to them.

So here comes Paul. And so he has all this new information. And where did he get it? He got it from Christ himself. And not only did he get the information, but he was persuaded about the truth of it. And so he teaches it to Peter, James and John and the rest of them. Brand new to them. They didn't reject it, but I'm not sure they understood it as clearly as they might otherwise have. So he has this stewardship now. One guy in all of the earth has a message from God that's all new, and he has a stewardship and a responsibility to spread that news. Has that stewardship ever changed? Do you have that stewardship? You do? Uh-oh. These guys over here don't?

It's the reason you're here, to equip the saints. To do what? To share the gospel. To share the mystery. Because we're ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? We're supposed to know the mystery and we're supposed to share it. That Christ is for everybody. He wanted to be in the hearts of all the people. Yeah. All of what's contained in the mystery is to be communicated to the world. See? Really important. And communicated within the body of Christ primarily. Because if you don't know it, how can you communicate it?

So if I'm Satan and I'm opposed to God and I've got my forces going, where am I going at the church? What am I doing? I'm trying to keep them as ignorant as I can. I can dress them up and send them off to church, make them do a bunch of spiritual push-ups, raise money to feed the poor, do whatever I can to help out the earth, but I'm going to keep them away from this mystery.

Because the mystery is really important and it changes things. What's the other aspect of the mystery that we haven't talked about yet? Are you talking about his ministry of reconciliation? No. I'm talking about the character of it. What aspect of the mystery is incredibly unique?

Grace. No. What I mean is this, it's heavenly. The focus and the whole idea of the mystery is heavenly. And that is probably the most difficult thing to understand because how often do our prayers evolve around, Oh Lord, bless me on the earth. When God has this new thing, the mystery, the heavenly mystery, And he is blessing us, oh he's already done it there. And we just need to find out about what it is.

Everybody in this room, I went with Courtney and Aaron Anderson and we took the conceal and carry class. So now I have a card in my wallet that says I'm entitled to conceal a handgun. We're really special. You guys are really special. Because in your wallet is this ID that says, I'm from heaven. That's my home. And everything about me is heavenly now. See how special you are? We're really special.

There has never been, on the earth before, people like us. And when the rapture happens, we're gone. And until we come back with the Lord, there won't be any more people on the earth who are heavenly people. Now I know that's tough for some of you guys, because you're really hoping that God was going to give you a Mercedes, but he's not, sorry. So I think we've answered the question.

Peter, James, and John wrote epistles, but they never stated that they were completing the Word of God. And completing the Word of God is very interesting. What does completing the Word of God mean, when Paul says, I'm here to complete the Word of God? Yeah, kind of. I mean, doesn't it sound arrogant for an apostle to say, I'm the last word. Not for Paul. Okay, here's a trick question. See how smart you are. The guys that come Wednesday night, you can't answer. Because I've already tried to trick you. Who is the ultimate authority on doctrine? Paul? What is the ultimate authority on doctrine? What part of Word of God? No. What is it? Pauline Epistles. What's that? Pauline Epistles. Paul.

He's the final authority. Because you can come to me and say, well, the Ten Commandments and the Mosaic Law goes against what Paul's saying. Well, who's right? And you know what? He's bold enough to state it. He says in Galatians, if anybody teaches any other gospel than what I have taught and my guys have taught, what does he say about them? Let them be accursed. Boy, that takes some nerve. You know, I'm looking at Paul thinking, well, who are you? We've got a lot of these other guys that taught a lot of stuff over the years.

Why are you saying that you're the final work? Because he was. Because God gave him the stewardship of the mystery And he was teaching that it was, I mean, the mystery of religions taught that mystery is something that was hidden but to a few people. And Paul was saying it really was revealed. It was to be revealed. Well, most religions have the inner circle guys that have the seven secret stuff kind of stuff where there's seven ways you're going to contribute to them.

But this mystery, not having been revealed, was for everybody. He was so happy because there was so much hatred too between Gentiles and Jews. He was happy that that might be relieved. You know, the information around the mystery is so spectacular that it's easy to reject it.

It's like when you first come to the Lord, or first approach with the Gospel, at least with me, the news was too good. I couldn't accept it because it was too good. I was sitting with a guy on Friday, who was a partner of mine thirty years ago and he has a circumstance in his life now he's interested in the gospel.

So he said to me, well I believe in God and I believe Jesus and who he was and I said, yeah. He said, what's the problem? He said, well I don't know. He said, you know, there's all this other stuff. And we talked for two or three hours and he said, boy that, it's kind of easy isn't it? I said, yeah, it's kind of simple too, isn't it? It's not complicated. It's not religion. It's a very simple thing.

It's a belief in the person and work of Christ and God will save you for all eternity. And boy, you're going to spend the rest of your life here and in eternity finding out what the gifts are. So, the message of Christ in you, the hope of glory, is such a stupendous message. That's why we get together. That's why you read the Bible. That's why you hang out. You're finding out all the grace that's been presented to you. Remember the grace class, the definition of grace?

It's the unlimited and unmerited blessings from God based on the totally adequate work of Christ. It's unlimited. No limits to it. Oh, and the limits don't run out when you die. They're just beginning then. And it's unmerited, which is such an assault against our sin nature. What do you mean? I can't do anything to contribute, help out? Isn't this a partnership? Blessings from God. Imagine that. So you talk about unlimited, unmerited blessings from God to someone who hopefully the Spirit of God is drawing. It scares them because they have nothing left to do. If I tell you there's nothing you can do, you're thinking, well, there's got to be something other than receive and believe. Is there anything else for you to do? Not really.

So, what are the two parts of this hidden mystery? See if you've figured them out. And the information really comes from a commentary by William Kelly and I'll read it to you. There are two great parts of this mystery. The first is that Christ should be set in heaven above all principality and powers and have the entire universe given to him as head over the inheritance on the footing of redemption. Himself exalted as head over all things heavenly and earthly And you think, well, yeah, that's right. What's unique about that? What's unique about the Lord Jesus and all of that about Him?

He's a human being. You know, sitting on the throne of God today is a human being. Not an angel, not a spirit, a human being. and all power and dominion has been given over heaven and earth to this human being. It's really important, I think, and you're united to him. When the Word of God says you're an heir of God and a co-heir with Christ, what does it mean? Well, you're a human being. Does that mean you're less? No, you're the same as the human being that's there, Christ himself.

That's part of the mystery. He being thus given head to the church over all things. Then the other side of the mystery is Christ in the saints here below. And in such a sort as to bring in the Gentiles with the utmost freedom. So you are united to this resurrected, glorified, Son of God, human being in the heavenlies. And oh, by the way, He's also in you. permanently.

So, question. Millennial Kingdom. Roy's in Castle Rock. That's his stewardship, right? The Lord Jesus is in Jerusalem. Roy has a glorified body and he's here ruling and reigning with Christ. Now because the Lord Jesus is in Jerusalem and he's in Castle Rock, is there a separation between the two?

None. Now I know it's hard for us to think that way because if you get up and leave the room, well, I don't think about you anymore. And we are not talking. But Roy and the Lord Jesus Christ and all of you in the Millennial Kingdom, wherever God has you, it will be like he's right in front of you. The intimacy will never ever be distant at all. That's what union means. It's kind of cool, isn't it? I mean, it's really cool, I think. So guess what? Roy won't be able to make a mistake.

Because the word says that we're going to rule and reign with Christ on the earth. And when I thought about it, I thought, well, how's that going to happen? He's going to be in Jerusalem. I'm going to get somewhere southeast of Bennett. So how am I going to know what the will of the King is ruling and reigning this planet? Because there are going to be all these people here who are Jews and Gentiles. What am I going to do? How am I going to know?

That's how. We're united in life. All of us will be. That's kind of a cool thing, isn't it? We have Christ in us right now. That process has already been completed. Yes, sir? If we have all the attributes of Christ at that point in time, that would just be a normal extension other than deity. That's a good way to look at it, yeah. Yeah, that's really right. Because, I mean, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are three persons. Do they ever have a discussion between the three of them about what direction they're going to go in? Or they have to kind of have a meeting? Or they ever have different thoughts about something? No, they never do. They're in harmony.

Guess what? So will we. So will we. We won't have to go to meetings anymore. That's really cool. No more Bible study. It says we have the mind of Christ already. Is that like a beginning hint? Well, when you have Christ in you, the mind came with it. Yeah, that's exactly right. And spiritual growth really is coming into what we already are positionally. That's really what it is as we get conformed to the image of Christ. The benefits derived from that is an intimacy and an understanding in our hearts and our minds about who Christ is and how he functions. Last question.

What's the hope of glory mean? And I just kind of gave it away a little bit, but what's the hope of glory? If I say, you know, the hope of glory, Christ in me, the hope of glory. It means that only Christians can really understand the mystery, and that isn't confined to super-Christians or saints. It means believers in Christ who know the blessedness of what God has done in Christ in one's present life. And hope is no vain longing, hope is a guaranteed future.

Okay, yeah. That's the first word I wanted to tackle. I wrote down, our ultimate union and presence with Christ in our heavenly home is complete. Okay, not bad. What's hope? Go ahead. When I think about hope for us, it's not uncertainty. It's a future certainty. we don't have to wonder about it and 1st Timothy 1.1 says that Christ is our hope and there is a definite article before the glory so to me that means the glory is Christ and when we get there face to face we're going to see the reality of his glory, of his character, of his attributes. We've got the words now that we define, but we're going to see it, the reality face to face. It's going to just be glorious. That's pretty good.

So hope is something that is an absolute certainty. Make sure you understand that that's what hope is. It's an absolute certainty that you just don't have yet experientially. It is yours. We're all going to get spiritual bodies, right? I hope for that. If I don't hope hard enough, I don't get one? No. We're all going to have them, right? But this verse says, the hope of glory. So take the glory that you've described and stick it on you. How does that work? Back to this example.

Here's Roy in Castle Rock, right? and the Lord Jesus in Jerusalem. And we're 25 years into the millennium. Roy's doing his thing. Roy's going down Wilcox Street. And here's a Gentile working at the 7-Eleven. And Roy walks by. How does that guy know that Roy is the Son of God?

It's going to be manifested in him. What's going to be manifested? The glory. There it is. See, the hope of glory is the fact that when we go to be with the Lord and you get a resurrected body, the very glory of Christ Himself will be manifested through you. You'll glow for all eternity.

So every creature on the earth, especially those in Castle Rock, will know that Roy He is a member of the Bride of Christ. Why? Because the glory of Christ will be flowing out of him. He won't have to wear a name tag, or act holy, or anything like that. You just look at him. That's the hope of glory.

And every one of us is slated for that. Every single one of us. Which is a really cool prospect. Some more for us than others. Some of you guys are too cool. The hope of glory is a really stupendous thing that's coming. And everybody gets it. And you know what? You don't get to earn it. It's part of the grace package that came with your salvation.

You touched on this, you and I will have the same harmony that we have with Christ. Yes, we will. Did you hear what he said? That Roy and I and Roy and all of you will have the same harmony between us as he has with Christ and you have with Christ. And that's what I meant by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit don't ever have a discussion about where they're going or what they're doing. They have the mind of Christ. It thinks a certain way all the time. He does. So there's never a disagreement. I mean, even the Jews aren't going to have to teach each other then. Isn't that something? The word hope, I always say to myself that it's an absolute confidence.

That's good. It's like a reckoning. Yeah, it is. That he says, this is what I'm going to have, and I'm going to have it. Sure. And in a real sense, you already do have it. You just aren't wearing it yet. Yeah, it's in the closet. Yeah, that's right. That's right.

Okay, moving on to the next questions. Eight. Lesson eight. Everybody have a lesson eight? Okay, question number one. How the heck do they do that? Now we're talking about 28 and 29, the last two verses. Let's read them first. Somebody read 28 and 29.

And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ. And for this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me. OK, the first question I ask is, what does the word proclaim mean here? And the Greek word is kata angelo. I think I said that right. And the word angelo means angel. So when he says we proclaim, what does he mean? Well, what's an angel? What's another word for angel?

Messenger. Oh, messenger. So he says, well, wait a minute, we're a messenger. That's our job. So we're messengers along with Paul to deliver what? The totality of the gospel message. The whole thing. Not just the salvation part, but the whole thing, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. So it's important for us as believers to know the totality of the gospel. Because we are, after all, messengers. Okay? Pretty simple. Pretty simple. Paul was the first one, and as we learn, we get prepared to be one too.

So to whom is this message proclaimed? To all. To all that believe in Christ. What's the verse say? Every man. Is that just Christian? No. Now notice what's happening here. The focus has gone on to the individual believer, every man. So Christianity makes the individual of eternal value to God.

Now you say, well, hasn't he always done that? No, he hasn't. If you were a Jew, Did God deal with you individually or did He deal with you as a nation? As a nation. But now He deals with us individually. There are two ways actually. We are individuals, but individual members of the body of Christ. And there is an intimacy there, individually and corporately, that never existed before. And it all has to do with... How valuable are you to God, by the way? Are you valuable to Him? Yes. How valuable? Infinitely.

Did He prove it? How did He prove it? By sending Christ. Just sending Him? No. How did He prove it? He died for us. He died. That's how He proved it. Greater love has no man than to give his life for his friend. He died. He did it. And he called up Steve and asked Steve if it was okay. No, he didn't do that. He did it anyway.

I think it's important to remember that we know that his death was sufficient because he rose. Sufficient from the Father's perspective. Yeah. That's right. He did the trick. Yeah. The only thing that ever could. Yeah. When you first, as a believer, I think you first hear, well, what's the proof that the work of Christ on the cross was sufficient to satisfy the Father? And the answer is, well, He rose from the dead. Well, does that mean Lazarus was sufficient? What's unique about the resurrection of Christ? He didn't die again.

That's one of them. He got a new body, a different kind. Yeah. The first one that was that way. Yeah, newness, kind of. The first one to rise out from among those who were spiritually dead. Perfect. Did you hear that? He was the first one to rise out of those who were spiritually dead. Because he was united with all humanity and all of them are dead, separated from God and he rose out from that. That's unique.

Is it really the truth that God loved us because he died for us or because he identified us? He could have died for everybody's sins but then after that he satisfied us and included us. He chose to give us grace after He died. It's not just that He died that He loved us. It was the identification of grace. Everybody understand what Laura's talking about?

When Christ died on the cross, was buried, and then the Father, all three of them rose from the dead, what if He just said, I'm done, right then? Would He have been done? Was He done? when it came to satisfying God about the sin issue? Yeah, it is finished.

You weren't included in any of that unless he decides to do it. The point that Laura is making is that the death of Christ satisfied God about the sin issue. He didn't die to satisfy you about anything. Once the accomplishment is completed, the Father and the Son are under no obligation to save you at all. None. because the issue was between them but because he's gracious and because he loved us he said okay I'm satisfied I'm gonna offer the propitiation or the satisfaction that I have now with the work of Christ to all humanity and the only way they can avail themselves of the benefits is to just believe me about it that my son did it And it took care of the issue.

And your believing is a non-meritorious act. Well that really made the sin nature happy. Because it didn't give them anything to do. See the value in what you believe is in what you believe, not the fact that you did. So it has to be on a grace basis. It can't be any other way.

So essentially we know that God loves us because we've been identified with him, not because he died for us. No, I think he loved us because he created us. I really do. He so loved the world. And even though they were despicable and hated him, he still loved them, which demonstrates what agape love is. Agape love is not based on whether you get responses or not. It's based on what is intrinsic to the lover. Let's see.

It shows that the church's place wherein we find a large feeling of desire and self-sacrifice in seeking the good of the whole. Paul, who brings in the church so prominently, says, every man, It's interesting that this life, this message that is to be transmitted to every man is Christ himself. Now I know that every one of you is headed towards this glory.

None of you are going to show up late and none of you are going to miss anything. Everyone in this room is going to be glorified. So if that's my attitude towards you when you screw up, how am I supposed to think about you? Oh, they're not going to be as shiny as me. No, you're just as valuable and just as precious to God as I am or anybody else is. All of us get His glory, the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And one of the cool things about studying the Word of God, my favorite verse in the Bible is 2 Corinthians 3.18, which is, Beholding is in a mirror the glory of the Lord.

As you spend time in the Word, what do you see? What do you see? You begin to see Christ. Well, you can't see Christ without His glory. So it's reflective. And so you begin to understand a little bit what His glory is about. And you see Him for who He is reflectively. And it has a corresponding effect on you.

What happens to you? You start to get conformed to His very image. Now imagine, take all that away, Fold your Bible up, throw it in the trash, and go to heaven and stand in front of Christ face-to-face with no sin nature. What happens then? Bingo! You're glorified. How cool is that? I laugh on the Tuesday men's group I've been teaching for 30 years, and we've probably had a couple hundred guys go through that study, right? And a lot of them have gone to glory. As far as I know, not one of them ever wanted to come back.

Because once you see Christ face to face, nothing else matters. So beholding Him in the mirror of the Word, He begins to be the most valuable thing there is to you personally. How does one admonish or warn in a gracious manner? Some of you guys have much better personalities than I have. People accuse me of being too abrupt, so I don't fit in this. Mike, the scripture admonishes to give every man a reason for the hope that resides within you with reverence and respect. We were studying on Wednesday night in Galatians. If any man be overtaken in a fault, let he that is spiritual restore such a one.

So I said, who in this room is spiritual? And everybody put their hand up. You know, whenever we have a class and we talk about spiritual mature Christians and baby Christians, everybody thinks they're a mature Christian, right? How do you decide who's spiritual?

By their being. Huh? By their being. By their being? Yeah, because now their eyes are on Christ. Okay. Do they have to be older, more mature Christians? No. No, they don't. Paul wasn't older. Paul wasn't older? When he went to be instructed in the wilderness for three years with Christ. He wasn't an old man. Yeah, see you can be anywhere along the growth line and be spiritual or unspiritual in any given moment.

So here, if you're the one that's going to admonish a person, and I like what Joanne had to say, how do you do it in a gracious manner? With wisdom. Okay. You get the Bible out and read. You know, that's a great answer. That's a really good answer. You get the Bible out and you read it.

Yeah, that's a great answer because the Bible has a way of admonishing a man or a woman to restore them without covering over, you know, without softening up the facts or sweeping anything under the rug, or anything like that, where you say, oh yeah, I'm busted. But at the same time, when it's over, you think, oh wow, am I glad that happened.

Because I am, even though I've been admonished about the Word, or about the truth, or about some circumstance. So the Word of God is really critical. I think it takes half your Christian life to realize that when someone comes to you and says, well, I have a problem with A, B, and C, and your answer is going to be, well, let's go and see what the Word of God has to say about that. Most of the time, I've got briefcases full of opinions, and none of them line up with the Word of God, and none of them can do what the Word of God can do. The word admonished is a compound is a compound word for mind and a verb meaning put or place. To put in mind or to caution or to reprove gently, the word teach is there. Teach the gospel and if necessary use words.

Nobody laughed. I thought we'd get a laugh. It all supposes great difficulty in the need of a power entirely beyond oneself. It proves the necessity of Christ working in all. We'll pick up with question four and hopefully we'll get through and I'll send out this week lesson nine. Believe it or not, lesson nine only has six questions. Homework is going to be cut down.

Father, how we thank you for your word. The things that you have prepared for us. to those who have been called and who love you is beyond sometimes our apprehension, but you're constantly trying to reveal them to us because we are your sons, because we have been called, and because we are united to the Lord Jesus Christ, Father. We thank you and pray in his precious name. Amen.