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Looking for something more?
12 Plays3 years ago
Vernon asks the question, "are you looking for something more other than what you already have in Christ?" There are those who try and convince us that we need something more than Jesus Christ to be satisfied in this life, or to be a more spiritual Christian, or have more victory, or on and on it goes. Some of their arguments can be very persuasive! Paul addresses this issue in Colossians 2. Vernon encourages us to rest in the finished work of Christ.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Walking Free' podcast
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This is your host, Vernon Terrell, with Grace Ministries International. It's time for Walking Free! Welcome again, this is Vernon Terrell.
The Sufficiency of Christ
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Today, I want to talk to you about those who delude you and I
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or try to with persuasive arguments.
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arguments like you need more, you need something more other than Jesus to make it, to be victorious, to be happy. And I see them sometimes on various internet sites or on some, or television or radio, different pastors or just philosophers who
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tell us there's something more that you need. And I think we can glean a lot from what Paul wrote to those in Colossae and Colossians, specifically chapter two, verse one. I thought I'd read that and let's just talk through it for a moment.
Unity and Wealth in Understanding Christ
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Because the bottom line, if you want to just
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skip to the end is, there is nothing more that you need. Peter tells us that you have everything you need for life and godliness. Let's read in Colossians 2 verse 1. Paul writes, for I want you to know how great a struggle
00:01:59
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I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea and for all those who have not personally seen my face. And I'm thinking the same thing for those just listening on the podcast. Maybe you have not personally seen my face.
00:02:21
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Trust me that not a lot of loss on that point, but maybe we have not interacted alive. You have not personally seen my face. We haven't talked through your specific issue.
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In verse two, he continues, 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. Isn't that something?
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Paul is writing and saying, I really struggle on your behalf. I want you to know some things. And for all those who just don't know who I am, never seen me, that in my prayer for you as well, that your hearts may be encouraged having been already
00:03:29
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knit together in love. How? Well, it's in Christ, of course, that you're knit together in love.
Hidden Wisdom and Knowledge in Christ
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And here's the really cool stuff. There's a lot of cool stuff. And attaining to all the wealth. Now, some might stop there, and all the wealth, the financial wealth, and no, talking about something a lot greater than just financial wealth, attaining to
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all the wealth that comes from what? The full assurance of understanding. And this is the full assurance, that full conviction and understanding of where you're putting things together and putting two and two together to understand this idea of what happened to you when you believed.
00:04:30
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what really happened and being confident in that understanding and starting to connect all the dots. And we'll never connect all the dots. That'll take an eternity. But Paul writes that there's wealth
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that comes from this full assurance of understanding that results in a true knowledge of God's mystery. And you know what God's mystery is? He continues, that is Christ. Christ himself.
Warnings Against Deceptive Arguments
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Christ is the mystery. And there's wealth.
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that comes wealth in your life, you have that sense of fullness that comes of that assurance, understanding, where you're putting the pieces together, where you begin to know this mystery, which is Christ himself. In verse three, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, because in Christ,
00:05:49
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Wisdom and knowledge has been purposely hidden in him. And believer, you're in him. You have access to this treasure trove of wisdom and knowledge. And Paul says, look, I'm writing this to you so that no one will delude you with persuasive arguments.
00:06:21
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Paul wants to get him on this level playing field and says, look, there's folks who are gonna come and try to persuade you differently. And we'll see in a moment what some of these arguments are and what I think many of them are still today.
Living Faith: Discipline and Stability
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In verse five, he says, for even though I am absent in body, nevertheless, I am with you in spirit, rejoicing,
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to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ. And you know, as a ministry, at Grace Ministries, we just long to see those that were helping, long to see their discipline, their good discipline. That's the idea that their life is coming back in order. And it's stable, their faith is stable.
00:07:18
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on a firm foundation in Christ. That's what we want and that's what I want for you. And I wanna tell you these things and we create this podcast and other resources to help you so no one will delude you with a persuasive argument. Like what? Well, let's keep reading.
00:07:45
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First, Paul encourages him by saying therefore, and I just set you up here, so because of this, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so these are believers, they've received Christ, walk in him, walk in him. How did you receive him? Well, you received him by faith. Well, in the same way that you received Christ Jesus the Lord,
00:08:13
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Walk in him, that's the title of the podcast, Walking Free. Stop talking, start walking. Sometimes we talk so much about these ideas and we don't walk them out. Well, Paul is saying here, look, just as you received them, walk in him. You received them by faith, now walk by faith.
00:08:40
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having been already firmly rooted and now being built up in him and established in your faith. And that established is fixed, it's firm, reliable. It inspires confidence as others see your walk. So go out and start walking.
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You're firmly rooted in him. He's not going anywhere. You're not going anywhere. You're in him. It's a done deal. It's a fact. Now you're being built up. You're growing in that knowledge and established firm in your faith, just as you were instructed and overflowing with gratitude.
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I want you to start walking.
Rejecting Human Philosophies
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You talk about being a new identity in Him, about being righteous, go walk righteous, about being holy in Christ, go walk as one who is holy. As one who is loved in Him, go walk loving toward others, kind in your walk, forgiving in your walk, because you are forgiven. Go walk in Him.
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because you are firmly rooted and you're being built up, just like you've been instructed. And here he comes back, I think, to these arguments in verse eight. See to it now that no one takes you captive. And remember how he said, I don't want, in verse four,
00:10:24
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For anyone to delude you with a persuasive argument, well, here it comes. Verse eight, see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. In fact, according to the riches of his wisdom,
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and knowledge in Christ.
Completion and Authority in Christ
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Verse nine, for in him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form, and in him you have been made complete, and he is the head over all rule and authority, and he's on a roll that he keeps going, and in him you were also circumcised,
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this cutting away, like, what do you mean? You were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Or what is this body of the flesh? It's that old you. When you received him, that old spirit, which was dead apart from Christ, you're in Adam.
00:11:53
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a spirit that was separated from life, which means it was existed, but it was dead, it had no life. It was the embodiment of flesh, of sin. In verse 12, had it happened, having been buried with him in baptism, when you received Christ, Paul reminded us in his letter to the Romans,
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that you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with him, how? Through faith in the working of God, who raised him, Jesus, from the dead. He clarifies more in verse 13, when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive together with him
00:12:49
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having forgiven us all our transgressions, and having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us, and he's taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Sin has a price, it's pretty bad. It's called death, separation. The wages of sin is death.
00:13:20
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And you had this certificate of debt. You had a debt to pay. And that was those wages of sin. And consisting of the decrees and the laws and all against us, hostile to us. Well, he forgave us, all of it, all of our transgressions. He took that certificate of debt. He nailed it to the cross.
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paid in full. And then when he had disarmed the rulers and authorities, so there were rulers and authorities over you, over this earth, and Jesus disarmed them.
Embracing Freedom and Truth
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Those spiritual rulers and authorities.
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They're not your ruler, nor are they your authority anymore. They want you to think they are. They will try to deceive you to make you believe they are, but he disarmed them. They are not your authority. He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Christ.
00:14:44
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And then he continues in verse 16, and we won't get too much into this. I've talked about it before, I'm gonna hit it again. But then he says, just therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to. And he goes through a list of things. I want you to know that there are many who are going to try to give you persuasive arguments that
00:15:10
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There's something more that you need other than Christ. There's something more you need for your anxiety, for your depression, for your addictions, whatever they may be. Christ is the answer. And I'm not saying that you need to askew medical treatment, of course not.
00:15:42
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or to that you don't need community, of course we do, we're humans. It's good to seek medical help when there's something wrong in the body. Absolutely. But there's nothing more you need for life and godliness. There's nothing more you need for satisfaction, for security in him,
00:16:12
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That's all you need is Christ to meet those basic needs of purpose and satisfaction, security, acceptance, love. Christ is the answer and in him
00:16:35
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all the fullness of deity dwells, and he is in you and you are in him. You have a new abode when you received Christ. You got a new place to live in him. You are abiding in him. That is your new abode where you live right now. And the omnipotent God,
00:17:04
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The God who created this earth, this universe, everything that we know, in his fullness, in his power, in his love and his grace, is living on the inside of you. As a believer in Jesus Christ, he lives in you. So what more do you need?
00:17:33
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Do you need Jesus plus something more? Is there something more this world will offer that will give you just a little bit more satisfaction than the omnipotent God of the universe? Is there something that's gonna give you a little more victory than the victorious Christ who lives in you? You have it all.
00:18:03
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But you see, we're taken captive often by other humans who were taken captive by the enemy of our soul through deception. And I like how Paul describes it in verse eight as empty deception.
Counseling: Uncovering Lies
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We believe lies, that there's something more.
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We believe lies that sin still has authority over me, that sin still has power over me. No, it doesn't. But if you believe it does and you accept that it does, well, guess what? You're gonna fall right in. Even though the truth is it does not.
00:18:57
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And I say it all the time, we're not talking about the power of positive thinking, we're talking about the power of truth thinking. You have victory right now. Now in counseling, what we find when we take folks through the counseling journey, we find that it is a journey.
00:19:25
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There's a lot of lies that we have to uncover and really only the Lord, I think, can give the revelation of truth. You know, we sometimes we think, oh, we're just so fancy and smart. We've got our models and we've got our diagrams and we've got our pithy sayings and that's going to just make the difference. Nothing wrong with them.
Christ's Sufficiency for Life and Godliness
00:19:48
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But you, as, say, a counselee, need to be willing to hear from the Lord the truth. It's the truth that sets free, and only he can reveal the truth, and only you can choose to believe it. I can't believe it for you as much as I'd like to. Do you believe that you're dead to sin? You know it, or you read about it, but do you believe it?
00:20:14
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And not believe it like it's true in theory or believe it true for someone else. Is it true for you? Do you believe that? Do you really not just know it intellectually, do you know it in your heart and soul that it's just fact and true? Just like the sky is blue, the grass is green most of the time. You're dead to sin. You're alive to God. You're alive to righteousness. Do you believe that?
00:20:47
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That's what it takes and that's what we take folks through in the counseling journey to begin to uncover these lies, to work through perhaps traumatic events that have happened and to unpack those and just to talk them through, get them out into the light and let them know that their loving father has always been with them and has wept with them in the midst of the trauma and the hurt
00:21:17
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and is for them always, never against them. These are truths that we need to hear over and over and over and over. So let me encourage you, even if I don't have a chance to see your face or talk to you in person, let me encourage you that Christ is enough.
00:21:46
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If you have medical needs, go to a doctor. Take care of your body. That's the only one you get on this planet. So take care of it. Seek good medical advice. For spiritual advice,
00:22:06
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Look to his word and look to Christ. He's what you need. I want you to understand all that you have in him. You can rest in that. There's no checklist that you need. There's no amount of service that you can do to get God to like you maybe a little bit more.
Giving and Serving from Abundance
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He loves you completely right now. If you wanna serve, go serve. Enjoy it. If you wanna give, go give.
00:22:34
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Ministries need it, we need it at Grace Ministries. If you wanna give, awesome. It'll help us get and spread the message, get the word out, spread the message to more and more folks, encourage and counsel more and more, absolutely. But don't give because you think it's the spiritual thing to do or you think God's gonna, you'll get a couple more points with God. Nah, it's not about that. If you have surplus, give it. If you don't give to us,
00:23:03
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Ask God to just show you a place that you can give it, that you're comfortable giving to, that you can do it apart and help them in whatever ministry they may be engaged in. I want you to be free.
Living Freely in Truth
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In fact, strike that. I want you to walk free because you are free. I want you to walk free.
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And that's what we're all about here, is helping people walk free. So ask the Lord, have you been believing in lies or some empty deception that's going on right now with you? Ask God to reveal to your heart the truth. And then expose that lie with the truth. Cast it aside and say, no, this is the truth that I have everything I need in Christ Jesus.
00:24:01
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and I'm gonna rest in that and I'm gonna walk free. I don't know what that looks like for you, but I'm gonna ask you, if you'll pray about it, seek the Lord, ask him to reveal it, and then stop talking and start walking.
Conclusion and Ministry Information
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You've been listening to Walking Free, a production of Grace Ministries International in Marietta, Georgia. For more information, go to our website at gmint.org. That's gminc.org.