In this sermon, Pastor Joe Babij examines and preaches through Colossians 2:1-5.
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thank you okay good morning let’s take our Bibles in turn to Colossians we’re back in Colossians Colossians chapter 2 we’re looking at verses one through five this morning Colossians chapter 2 verse through 5.
let me read that verse number one Colossians chapter 2 I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at laodicea and for all those who have not personally seen my face that their hearts may be encouraged having been knit together in love and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full Assurance of understanding resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery that is Christ himself in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument for even though I am absent in body nevertheless I am with you in spirit rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ let’s pray father this morning again as we come to your word Lord the precious word of God that you have superintended and protected up until this day and will forever that Lord we would take your word seriously and that Lord we would listen and we would then meditate upon it and then put the word of God into practice in our own life and that we would also Lord examine ourselves by it so Lord that we can know that we’re walking in light of your word that we can know also that we’re saved by Christ and that we have your spirit to lead and direct us so bless us Lord as we look at Thy word this morning and Christ I pray amen so I’ve been saying that once you have become a Christian and have purpose in your heart that you are going to hold fast to the hope that has been given to you in Christ Jesus and that you are determined to continue in it and that you have been convinced by scripture that you should not be moved away from the truth or the hope of the Gospel no matter what happens in your life see the bottom line is in Colossians here that as long as a believer in Christ continues growing in the faith growing in the knowledge of the word of God that they will become established and firm not easily moved away from the hope that they have learned in the gospel and they will experience at that point the reality of being new in Christ you are not the person you used to be you are new and every day is new and that Christ is the sole focus and center of your life and he is when he is then we begin to understand newness but while we cooperate with the Holy Spirit and making us holy and spiritually mature on our way to eternal glory we experience conflict as a Christian we were not aware of this conflict when we remain captive in Satan’s domain but once we were moved from his dark domain to the kingdom of God’s dear son because of our faith in Jesus Christ at that point we entered into spiritual conflict and the conflict we entered will have many fronts to it but the main front will be in the area of Doctrine and practice they both go together Doctrine and practice especially the doctrines concerning God concerning Jesus Christ The Authority base which holds up our belief system and our moral standards and our way of living is the holy scriptures and this conflict by another name as mentioned in Ephesians is spiritual warfare I didn’t know if you knew that you were in spiritual warfare when you became a Christian we are fighting against demonic ideology it is the is a fight for the heart and the mind a good example of of this fight that is going on this ideological struggle is observed really in the blindness of people as I mentioned last time the ligoner ministry uh went on college campuses and they were asking students this one question this is a different question they were asking them what do you think about God who do you think God is one student said who do I God is I think you’re asking the wrong person because I’m not quite sure myself that really anything another said I believe that there is some higher being but I don’t believe in quote-unquote God another one said who do you think God who do I think God is I don’t think I think he’s just a spiritual form another one said really no one really knows what God is really like it’s just that in the Bible it tells you how they picture him as being nobody really knows and then one person says I have faith that there there’s something out there you know I don’t know what it is I’m going to pursue it more but right now I’m not sure about whether monotheism is right or whether we become one part of the universe or whatever but heck man I’m only 18 years old I don’t know and then one did say this I believe God is like in all Supreme all knowledgeable omnipotent being now that was the closest one but in all those statements we can see that there’s a problem and the problem is that people do not know who God is and the reason why they don’t know who God is is because they’re looking for him and they’re finding information about him in all the wrong places the only place that you can find out about God and who he is is in his own self-revelation in the word of God so we’re number one this morning if you look at verse number one we’re in a Warfare we’re in a Warfare it says this and this Warfare is conflict it says I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf this is Paul writing and he is saying to the people that he’s writing to that he is struggling for them and this term struggle kind of jumps off the page in order in to inform the readers of his agona is the word or that we get the word agonize he’s agonizing over something he’s struggling he’s contending metaphorically he’s in a race and it’s pictured here of exertion put out in the face of opposition like a conflict or struggle or a fight and the picture is really of an athletic contest which is strenuous and demanding and characterizes which really characterizes most of the Christian Life and Paul the Apostle Paul is using the word in a more figurative way to describe an intense non-physical struggle that Paul also included the word in verse number two verse number one great struggle and it describes the size and intensity of his ongoing inner wrestling and the struggle was in his own heart for the people he never met he never met the Colossians he never met them and so he’s writing to them and so Paul is letting them know listen this real struggle that’s going on in my heart is for you people but these Jews and Gentile converts were now in Christ so he struggled for them and how did he do that well if you look at chapter one verse number 9 he says this for this reason also since the day we heard of it we have not ceased to pray for you and ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual spiritual wisdom and understanding so he’s wrestling before God for these people in prayer foreign for the very things that will hinder reaching the final goal and that is to be firmly established in the faith and to remain once you’re there steadfast unmovable by whatever is going to come your way whatever ideology is going to press into your life or against you because the greatest conflict that we will have as Christians is the conflict against false teaching and if the enemy can get us to have a low view of God and ignore his word and God’s revelation of himself and mix it together with other teachings that add and take away from the authority of the word of God and the revelation of God himself he will do it he will use any teaching flying out flying around us at any time that it’s going to carry us away from the truth and then once he does that you know what he does he leaves you to bleed and to be bruised and broken and confused he leaves you in other words wavering and wobbling I I don’t know if if I really believe God anymore I don’t really believe that Jesus it is exclusively the way to be saved there’s got to be many ways see people Wobble in those things it happens all the time people are leaving the faith who once professed the faith why is that well again in Ephesians it says in chapter 4 verse 13 and 14 until we all Attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ and as a result of that as a result of maturity spiritual maturity we are no longer children to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of Doctrine by the trickery of men and by craftiness and deceitful scheming you mean people are trying to trick you yes you know why because people are being are the puppets of Satan and they want to trick you it’s like people who say you know what I’ve been a Christian for a while but I I want more it was a woman named Sarah Young who writes a book Jesus is Calling and she said in her book I know God gave the Bible but I yearned for more well if you yearn for more apart from and Beyond the scriptures Satan will give it to you it’s all in the word of God that’s what God’s given us in fact more and more church leaders are adopting a pragmatic approach to Ministry using what is culturally expedient and completely ignoring what scripture says about the priorities in the church and now churches don’t look like what the Bible says it looks like what the culture says another influence that has rapidly gained momentum in our culture is mysticism this teaches that Enlightenment comes from within you go inside yourself and find enlightenment and it emphasizes a mystical phenomena phenomena such as it visions and signs and wonders and miraculous personal Revelations it’s the spiritual formation movement that is prominent in our culture and that is that they’re very teaching is go look within to find something meaningful no you can’t don’t look with it look outside to God to his word and that’s where you’re going to find the stability and fulfillment that we desire in our hearts so pragmatism psychology mysticism are nothing more than synthetic man-made substitutes used by Satan to undermine and infect the spiritual lives of believers and they do not produce the results of doctrine that is according to Godliness because real Doctrine will produce godliness and Holiness in your life that’s what the word of God will do we have other things pressing upon the church from the cultures such as the critical race Theory race hatred cancel culture the lgbtq agenda the blurring of male and female identities and a confused definition of marriage and the list goes on and on and on and on we may not have been aware how much error disintegrates the heart’s confidence and produces trouble and doubt and confusion or how error also snaps the bonds of love and splinters the church into parties so error is seductive it is destructive it is a dangerous influence which is harmful to believers so that’s Paul’s struggle that the people that are are listening to the word of God the people who have been genuinely saved would not be moved away from the truth and the most effective antidote for any heresy is the proclamation of the doctrine of Christ a cogent proof of Christ’s absolute Supremacy and exclusivity in the church and false teachers also offer a secret knowledge which really blinds its followers by its failure to rightly exalt Christ and submit to him in other words they produce a heretical christology truth is worth fighting for it costs something to stand up and be counted and be unpopular the human wisdom of our times is keep an open mind don’t be too dogmatic there’s good in all religions we’ll all make it to the same place everybody’s just coming a different way but God says the opposite contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the Saints there’s no such thing as spiritual pacifism service that counts costs being a Christian will cost you and maybe that’s some reasons why people are dropping off of course people who drop off are really giving evidence they weren’t really in in the first place they weren’t really Christians so this conflict if you notice in verse number one is for on the behalf of others it says I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are laid to see and for all those who have not personally seen my face so the Colossians and the laodiceans are Paul’s constituents these are the con these congregations were probably less than 12 miles apart and they had a lot of things in common with each other especially in the area of the culture they had a knowledge of the Apostle Paul but not a personal face-to-face knowledge call Paul’s compassion despite his absence in is expressed in his written concern for his these constituents that he never met that the Colossians may have thought he doesn’t really care for us as much as he care for the churches that he actually planted and visited see they never felt the magnetism of the personal experience uh of hearing Paul the Apostle Paul preach they were at a disadvantage they thought well Paul shows them that they have a very warm place in his heart for them his love for them traveled beyond the limits of his eyesight see the Apostle expresses how much he cared for them by wrestling in prayer for them so that they may stand firm in their faith he even had other faithful workers who would do the same thing if you look just at over the chapter 4 verse number 12 a papyrus also who really probably was the founder of the church at Colossians it says in chapter 4 verse 12 of Papyrus who is one of your number of Bond slaves of Jesus Christ sends you greetings always laboring earnestly for you in his prayer in his prayers that you may want stand perfect and fully assured of all the will of God so so in other words that prayer becomes a weapon against false teaching so people would stand firm in what they believe and not be moved away from it see this is the goal of the struggle spiritual maturity and Paul’s inward struggle also found its way into his outward and outward action not only in prayer but his writing Ministry he would write these congregations a personal letter from his prison cell and fill them with the knowledge of that will the will of God warning them of the dangers all around them which are common to all Christians not just the Colossians and he would Supply encouragement to firm up their faith if anyone knew the Christian struggle the Apostle Paul knew the Christian struggle so the apostle was deeply concerned about the welfare of his readers but you may have missed this there’s something going on here also in Scripture that scripture is also displaying before our very eyes how the Gospel of Jesus Christ transforms a person from a hateful person to a now concerned person for the welfare of those he once disliked and persecuted I’m talking about the Apostle Paul himself he’s a great miracle he persecuted the church he hated the thought of Jews and Gentiles getting together they had to be always separate because the Gentiles were just not God part of God’s plan and so he hated them but now he’s praying for them and not only that he has welfare for them he’s looking out for their welfare look at verse number two in Colossians chapter 2 it says that their hearts may be encouraged having been knit together in love and the attaining of all the wealth that comes from all the Assurance of understanding resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery that is Christ himself he is saying to them there listen to the the conflict has a design objective and the design of objective is the purpose of the struggle is to come alongside other believers like the Colossians like the laodiceans and keep their hearts knit together that their hearts may be it says encourage having been knit together in love so the encouragement will not come naturally to them it doesn’t come from within them but it must come from outside themselves that they will be encouraged as Paul comes alongside of them as their mature brethren in his writing Ministry and he encourages them along with God himself encouraging them knowing that the written word is enough to be able to undergird our faith and encourage us to continue to walk forward in our faith in Christ Jesus see the heart as it says there that their hearts may be encouraged see the heart is the core of the in the individual the heart distinguishes the center of personality the source of willing and thinking in addition to feeling so he’s saying here listen every part of one’s person is to be encouraged by the truth and the truth is comprehensive and it will encourage you in your mind it will encourage you in your will it will encourage you in your emotions so the mind and the emotions and the will must be informed by the word of God for us to have stability in the faith and when we cooperate with God in the transformation of our minds and opinions which we once used while we lived in Satan’s domain that only a transformed mind then will be able to be unified so that we together as a church as a body we will be able to stand against error not standing against error alone no but together as a body encouragement of heart Doug moo writer write a commentary on Colossians says he says the encouragement of heart touches the deepest part of the being and affects every aspect of the transformed heart so in other words when you get saved God has a comprehensive building project going on he’s convincing you in your mind he’s your mind is affecting your emotions and your emotions and your mind is affecting your will and remember what the will is the will is the result of what one does or decides to do in their life so in other words the word of God brings us to the place where we say I decide because of truth from scripture to follow Jesus to live for him with all my heart my mind my soul my strength so scripture uses a very unique term also in verse number two in our passage this term knit together and it strictly means to cause to stand together figure it to leave of the church as a body of Christ being united or joined together and the picture for us is that the church body is interlocked like a knitted blanket and you know what happens if there is a break in a weaved or knitted blanket what happens usually is it starts to unravel it then loosens its strength it loses its vital vitality and its use so how does a church keep from unraveling well if you look in the text look what it says that there is a sphere in which a Believer or the church is living that actually protects them from falling apart and look what it says again that their hearts may be encouraged having been knit together in love in love so in other words the sphere this knitting is taking place is in the sphere of love that the heart is united in love the sphere of unity exists in the believer’s strong ties of love and we were just informed in Colossians that part of God’s mystery is that the work of God in the death of Christ will break down ethnic barriers in the creation of one people now just think brethren the two most antagonistic groups in all human history is who it is Gentiles non-jews and Jews of which laodicea had a significant Jewish population both groups become one new person when they come to Christ in Repentance and faith so in other words God brings together the most divided people groups from the most diverse backgrounds and World Views and brings them into the church and makes them one United body and the people who used to hate each other and fight each other now love each other how does that happen you know how that happens love toward each other because of Christ’s love towards you and me that’s why and this is not a gushy sentimental love this is love as it says in scripture empowered by the Holy Spirit like Romans 5 and the hope that does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within your hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us and that it is a love experienced in the Kingdom ruled by God’s beloved Son which we are now in because of our salvation and it’s love that unites against error if you look over to Colossians chapter three look at verse number 14.
it says beyond all these things put on love which is the perfect Bond of unity so loving the Lord Jesus Christ is what the Christian life is all about it is where the unity and all the barriers it’s where the unity brings people together and the barriers are broken down this is the distinguishing Mark of the children of God love for the Lord Jesus Christ that really would what differentiates biblical Christianity from all the rest of the religious systems and this is what distinguishes true disciples from all others who are false followers of God and that is what what is absent from the teaching of the false teachers there is not genuine unity and Doctrine and there’s not genuine love amongst believers you know when you come to the Gospel of John Abraham’s when Jesus was talking to the the Jews there and the the people they was talking to he was just going back and forth with him and they thought that listen to Just because we’re Abraham’s descendants they thought they were right with God and already in the Kingdom just because they were claimed to be Anne Abraham’s children but at the same time they were seeking to kill Jesus and what does it say in John chapter 8 verse 42 listen what it says Jesus said to them if you if God were your father you would love me for I proceed forth and have come from God for I have not even come on my own initiative initiative but he has sent me so how important and serious is the matter of love to Jesus the Apostle Paul in his final message and closing message to the first first in First Corinthians declares that Souls doomed to judgment are cursed for this reason because they did not love the Lord and this is what it says in Corinthians 16 22 if anyone does not love the Lord he is to be accursed now you say Brethren that’s pretty tough language I know a lot of people who don’t love God but I tell you what when we come to Christ when we start seeing we start seeing God the way he’s revealed in scripture and we start seeing people differently no longer through the social cultural economic or racial lenses that we once did but now more through a Biblical lens as we’re being transformed as we’re being made new that we see the lost as those who need the gospel so we have compassion towards them and those who who evidence the transforming results of the Gospel of Jesus Christ we count them as Brothers and Sisters in Christ no matter who they are no matter what culture they come from no matter what skin color they have it doesn’t matter we’re all one in Christ we’re unified in Christ Jesus so the Colossians and the lay of the scene congregations comprised of Jews and Gentiles had already been demonstrating a Christian love because that is what their pastor of Papyrus reported to the Apostle Paul look what it says in Colossians what verse is that Colossians chapter 1 verse 7 and 8.
it says just as you learned it from a paparis is that the one our beloved fellow Bond servant who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf and he also informed us of Your Love in the spirit now just think about that when a Papyrus is reporting to Paul what’s going on in the congregation why would he mention that they love each other why would he why would he even bring that up you would think that doesn’t seem so important but for the Apostle Paul it was greatly important because you know what it showed this is what it showed it showed that love is an overwhelming adoration for the Lord that produces genuine concern and the well-being for others and it is evidence of genuine conversion to Christ it’s evidence that your Prejudice is gone and if we love God With Us and sincere and deepening affection we must love the image of God wherever we find it that’s why when you read the Epistle of First John what do you find in first John it says if someone says I love God and hates his brother he is a liar for those who do not love his brother whom they have seen cannot love God whom they have not seen so when you love your brother the way the Bible says so who do people see they see God especially if they knew you before and they knew your language and they knew your attitude towards people but now you’re different so it’s worth fighting for the unity of Believers which is knit together in love because love is a weapon for victory have you ever thought of love as a weapon well it is a mighty one in God’s Arsenal even other places in Scripture it uses Warfare language with the word love in it listen what it says in Thessalonians but since we are in the day let us be sober having put on the breast plate of faith and love and the helmet of salvation and then of course in Ephesians take up the whole arm of God so that you’ll be able to resist in the evil day and having done everything to stand firm and then how does the end Ephesians like this peace to the Brethren and love with faith from God the father and the Lord Jesus Christ Grace be to all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with Incorruptible love you know what that means brethren gospel and doctrinal preaching softens the heart and produces love towards God and people it does not Harden the heart and make people mean it does not if that’s the result if your doctrinal understanding makes you mean you’ve got the wrong Doctrine it makes you soft and hard so you stop sending them those mean emails and those Mean Tweets and those mean Facebook comments you know Facebook can tell a lot about what’s going on your spiritual life you better re-read them before you send them see the biblical way of understanding love is vital to keeping the unity hedging against schisms within the body hedging against Strife between people hedging against the vision in the body of Christ and scripture is saying to this to us because it is crucial for the Christian it is not a take or leave proposition it is a imperative virtue which Grieves God when we do not show this love see love of the Brethren one person said is the greatest concurrent advantage next to sound doctrine that is true that is true from these texts that is true in fact this power is seen in the Commandments the Ten Commandments take your Bibles for a moment turn to Romans chapter 13.
Romans chapter 13 and Romans 13 really does give us a sense about what the Commandments produce in a believer Romans 13 and verse number 8 notice what it says there it says oh nothing to anyone except what to love one another so do I owe anybody something yes I owe the love that God’s given me to them that’s what I owe them and then it says this for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law but then notice in verse number as it goes down and in verse number nine so you have to ask the question well how shall we love first commandment number seven look what it says you shall not commit adultery now this is the second part of the Ten Commandments the first part of the Ten Commandments is to love the Lord right to worship God the second part is to love your neighbor so he’s using the second part of The Commandments here and in commandment number seven you shall not commit adultery why is that because instead what am I to do I’m to preserve the sacredness of the marriage bond for myself and for others in the congregation I’m to save people’s marriage and not EX at all get involved with that see that’s adultery also the second one commandment number six you shall Love Therefore what you shall not murder or hate but instead of that what should I do I should help my fellow brother and sister to keep alive and well I want the best for them I want their best welfare at one time I maybe didn’t even consider that now I do commandment number eight you shall not steal instead what should I do I should help protect my brothers and sisters possession and if God’s given you more than me thank God for that God blessed you and I want you to help you keep that and not steal anything from you and then of course commandment number 10 which is the big a big commandment you shall not covet verse 13 verse number nine Chapter 13 Verse number instead what do I do coveting something that is never should be mine even Desiring something that I think should be mine is coveting that’s sin you break the Commandment but instead which will I do instead rejoice in the fact the Lord has blessed your neighbor and has given it to them and just praise God on how good he is and then notice in the rest of verse number 9 of Romans chapter 13 and if there is any other commandment it is summed up in this saying you shall love your neighbor as yourself love those does no wrong to a neighbor therefore love is a fulfillment of the law I could never have done this before but now this is what I strive for I strive for the well-being of other people I strive for their well-being now back to Colossians and I want you to notice that there there really is two goals there’s two goals of this knitting together the first goal of this knitting together is keeping what God’s given us keeping our riches notice in verse number the second part of verse number two and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full Assurance of understanding so scripture is not referring to material wealth here it is referring to wealth or riches that we have as Believers in Christ which consists of what conviction of an assured understanding and knowledge of God’s mystery so here’s another weapon for victory that there’s a full assurance that God gives us it is God’s will that the Saints be filled with the knowledge of his will and the message of God which is Christ in you the hope of glory that Christ Alone is the source of every conceivable bit of spiritual knowledge worth having all the barriers are down so the Jew and the Gentile Saints alike are fellow heirs with Christ because he is in them he indwells them by his spirit so this is the mystery of God the mystery of God’s truth not revealed before but now made clear is Christ is the fullness of the godhead and if you notice what it says resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery that is Christ himself that’s what’s been veiled but now it is made public for all to know and for the Christian not only to know that they are the wealthiest people in the world they have the riches that nobody else has because they have Christ and that in Christ are hidden All The Treasure of wisdom and knowledge that is in Christ that all the Treasure of divine wisdom and knowledge have been stored up stored up in the hiding formally but now displayed to those who have come to know Jesus Christ personally Christ Alone is the source of scriptural knowledge worth having and worth fighting for and this knowledge in the word of God is the greatest wealth that we can ever obtain or hold on to this side of Eternity don’t let it go that’s what Paul is saying to us don’t let it go don’t walk away from it the revelation of God is finished that that means we have all the word of God but the apprehension of it may grow will never grow out of under of studying the word of God we’ll never grow out of it see the Bible will give us a lifetime of digging out the Nuggets of gold and the Acres of diamonds giving us plenty of spiritual food to feed our souls Christ be until Christ becomes all and all so here is you know what this is here’s the the christological high point is that in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that Christ is the one whom is to be found all that is knowledgeable and worth having and all that is wisdom and wisdom is the Practical ability to understand reality from God’s perspective and then to act on that understanding in your everyday life putting it to practice what you learn what what do we usually do with a treasure no we usually do it a treasure we keep it we protect it we guarded we prevent others from taking it from us that’s what we do that’s what we ought to do but hear this treasure anyone who comes to know Christ by faith can draw from his store all the wisdom and knowledge that exists that’s why when you read the word of God God tells us why how the world was created what happened when we fell into sin what God’s going to do next through all what he spoke through all the prophets Pro the prophets telling us the Messiah is coming Jesus dies on the cross right Jesus raises from the dead he goes to heaven he’s ascended he’s at the right hand of God he’s preparing a place for us he’s praying for us he’s waiting to come back again right I believe the church is going to get taken out and and it’s going to be in heaven then the Great Tribulation is going to take place and after the Great Tribulation we’re going to come back with Christ is going to come back with the Saints on this Earth and we’re going to rule and reign with him for a thousand years and all the battles take place and Christ wins the battle and then there’ll be a new Heaven and new earth this old heaven and new earth will pass away and there’ll be a place of real righteousness where there’s no more division between man and God New Jerusalem comes down to earth and there’s no more division between God and man and God will be our God and we will be his people that’s all in the word of God that’s all in the word of God who else knows that do you realize the treasure you have that when it comes to the point where you have to put your eye close your eyes and death you are confident that because God cannot lie you’re going to be absent from the body is to be what present with the Lord so we have a hope nobody has well brethren I am not done yet but I have to end it right there it’s worth fighting for The Treasure of Truth because the truth about Christ is the sharp weapon for victory holding to it will make us Mighty in Warfare so what do we have we have unifying love is a weapon for victory keeping our Treasure of the truth about Christ is our sharp weapon for victory prayer is our weapon for victory it’s all here in the text for what so we stand firm in the faith and we don’t move whatever stuff is being done in the world or being communicated to us because we know the truth and if you know the truth the truth will make you free let’s pray Lord thank you so much Lord your word is so incredible lord it’s it’s such a relief to know that you shoot from the hip and Lord you tell us directly what’s going on and thank you Lord for the gospel of Christ how it transforms us it makes us new that we now have love for you and love for people that we didn’t have before and Lord it gives us the weapons to fight in the conflict and be able to win and so I pray Lord that we as your people would always be unified in love I pray Lord that we would always hold the treasure that you have given us in Christ Jesus and I pray Lord that we would be praying for each other’s welfare so Lord we don’t fall away but we stay strong in the faith and that you make a servants in your church to be able to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who have not yet heard it so they may be saved and then see what we have and become wealthy as we are in Christ Jesus and I prayed this this morning in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ amen let’s Stand Together