The Apostle Paul has talked about “receiving Christ Jesus as Lord and walking in Him. He spoke of being built up and rooted in Christ Jesus. Paul wrote about abounding and thanksgiving. Sounds to me like these at Colosse have this Christian life down. What could go wrong? They have received Christ Jesus as their Savior. They have rooted themselves in Christ Jesus. They are walking in Christ Jesus. They are abounding in Christ Jesus and are thankful so what could possibly be a problem? How many people do you know that fits this description, but now they don’t even attend
Church? I could name more than a few. What happened? They forgot, that all Christians have an enemy and at least one sin that easily trips them up. Matthew 13:25 (KJV) But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
Who came? The enemy. When did the enemy come? “while men slept” or when men were not alert or watching or expecting, when men were overconfident. Who was this enemy?
Acts 13:10 (KJV) And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? What is this enemy doing? Perverting the right ways of the Lord. Watch what Paul writes in Colossians 2:8 (KJV) Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Beware!!!! Beware of what? Men who want to spoil you. In other words rob you of the rich treasure of the Gospel, strip you of your spiritual armor, take away from you the truths and doctrines of Christ “philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men” Philosophy begins to destroy the root system. If the enemy can destroy the rood system then the spiritual nourishment stops. I can’t explain how important it is to trust Christ, because the traps of the enemy are everywhere. Oh this “philosophy and vain deceit” sounds great and if not careful it will get you to question the love of Christ. If God is love and if God loves us like He says He does then why does He allow such evil to happen? I like what Billy Graham said on this matter. “With so much soap, why are there so many dirty people in the world? Christianity, like soap, must be personally applied if it is to make a difference in our lives.”
I have a good friend and everyday he talks to people about Jesus, he would tell of God’s love for them. 1000’s of people gave their life to Christ because of his love for others. But now he is unable to move. All he can do is lay in bed, he is dying and he knows it. You know what he is doing now that he can’t move or leave his home? Same thing, but now the Lord is bringing others to him. Who? Doctors, nurses, caretakers and the list goes on. Is he upset with his Heavenly Father? Course not he is still grateful he has his mind so he can tell others of the God who loves them. Have any given their heart to the Lord? What do you think? More than you could imagine. “He is no fool that gives away that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”Philip Henry/Jim Elliot
Oh no the enemy doesn’t want you to do that. The Christian man, woman, boy or girl that isn’t aware that the enemy wants to destroy them will soon fail in their Christian life. “BEWARE” means “to restrain or guard one's self from. Hence, to regard with caution; to restrain one's self from anything that may be dangerous, injurious or improper; to avoid” 2 Peter 3:17 (KJV) Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
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