A Daily Walk

Guest (Male): The challenges we face are enormous, but where can we turn for help and strength? Here's Pastor John Randall.

John Randall: We don't have the strength in and of ourselves to match the challenges in front of us, but God does. That is why in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10, he says, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. And and on and on and on you could find passages that would encourage you in this regard that there is strength enough for the challenges ahead.

Guest (Male): Happy 4th of July. Whether you're in prison unjustly like the Apostle Paul was or you're hated and ridiculed for standing for the truth in today's world, suffering for the cause of Christ is not uncommon. But we can make the choice to rejoice at such times for several reasons, and we'll lay them out for you today on a daily walk. Pastor John Randall is going to finish up Colossians chapter 1 today. Here he is now with today's message called Suffering for the Cause of Christ.

John Randall: This message that Paul was given, I want you to notice here. He says it twice. It was referred to as a mystery. It was a mystery, he said, that was hidden for ages, for generations, but had now been revealed. And with this revelation, he had both the privilege and the responsibility to pass it on to others. Now included in this mystery that was hidden in the Old Testament was this, that both Jews and Gentiles would become unified as one body, one church in Jesus Christ. That was a complete mystery. Even after the church began, you remember in the book of Acts, the Lord said, I want you to take the gospel into the whole world.

And they just pretty much hung out in Jerusalem. And everybody who was getting saved primarily, they were Jews. It was Jewish congregations. I mean, the thought of taking the message to Gentiles that can I mean, they they're not even the chosen people. The Messiah is Jewish, we're Jewish. Why would we do that? What did God allow to happen? Persecution came. And when persecution came, the gospel went everywhere. And then Gentiles started getting saved, and even the Jews who were born again were struggling with, hey, are they supposed to get saved like we are? You remember Peter went down to the home of Cornelius and he met with Cornelius who was a Gentile, and he opened his mouth and started speaking to Cornelius, and Cornelius was filled with the Spirit.

His whole family got saved. They all got baptized, all got baptized with the Holy Spirit as well. And Gentiles and Peter came back and the Jews said, where where you been? I was with some Gentiles. What were we doing down there? I ate with them. You ate with Gentiles? Because let me explain. They received the Holy Spirit the same way we did. And suddenly the church was finding out that this message of the gospel, this mystery that was hidden, suddenly Gentiles would be part of the body of Christ, and so they were to be one body, not separate.

And again, as the church was formulating and coming together early on, there were problems because Gentiles were completely different from the Jews in what they ate, how they lived, etc. They even had to have a a meeting in Acts 15 in the Jerusalem Council to decide what was acceptable and what wasn't acceptable among Gentiles because Jews thought, well, if they're really going to be saved, they got to become Jews. But they realized that wasn't necessary. This mystery had now been revealed. The grace of God extended to them. And so when Paul preached this message, a former Pharisee, now an apostle to the Gentiles, when he preached this message, this mystery of Jews and Gentiles being one body, listen, that got him into so much trouble.

He was persecuted. He was falsely accused. They said he's he's let go of the law. He's no longer Jewish. He's a I mean, they just and they beat him wherever he went as he said. He listed it for us. Everything that he went through was a direct result of the message that he preached. The message that he preached is what got him into trouble. The gospel revealed not only the Jews, but also Gentiles could now experience all the benefits of being children of God. They were now included in the glory and the riches of God's grace.

They had received redemption, reconciliation, forgiveness of sins. Christ lived in them by the Spirit filling them with inner hope. And this was absolutely revolutionary. And not only would the Gentiles have difficulty believing the message, but as I said, the Jews would have a hard time believing and even reject it. And so as Paul preached this message, he didn't water it down. He told them there there's neither Jew nor nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. They're all one in Christ. Boy, that that just set off a fire everywhere he went. And he suffered because of the message.

You think, well, maybe we tone it down a little bit, Paul. You don't need to be so bold with the message. Why don't you just water it down a little bit? Maybe you wouldn't get so many beatings. Paul was unwilling to do that. And the message that we preach, the true gospel message, it can be offensive because the truth of the gospel is everybody's a sinner. Everybody's fallen short of the glory of God. Everybody needs a savior. Everybody's violated God's law. Everybody's under the judgment and the wrath of God apart from receiving Christ. That's not a popular message.

And so there are other message, social gospel kinds of messages and other things that are presented that aren't accurate. And they give people sadly a false sense of security, a false hope. They couldn't even explain what the gospel is if they were asked. The Paul was willing to preach a message of the gospel, a mystery that had been revealed, and because of it, he suffered. And there are many today who are suffering greatly for believing in and preaching and proclaiming the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Regardless of the response, Paul was committed to faithfully delivering this message.

And that is why in verse 28, I want you to see the theme of this message that he preached. He said, and I love this, he said in verse 28, him we preach. Him we preach. It's a reference to Jesus. Him we preach, warning every man, teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. And to this end, I labor striving according to his working which works in me mightily. I want you to notice first of all that the message that Paul preached, it's centered upon the person of Jesus.

Him we preach. In writing to the Corinthians, Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 in verse 1, he said, and I, brethren, when I came to you, I didn't come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Corinth was so fond of philosophy. They were so enamored by orators and theatrics stimulated by presentations. Paul said, I didn't bring any of that. What I did is I brought Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's the message that I preached to you.

And this is what I was determined to preach to you. Folks, can I tell you that any church, any ministry that drifts away from preaching about and focusing on Jesus is missing the point. It's about Jesus. In the volume of the book, it's written about Jesus. If someone gets up and preaches and at some point you don't hear the name Jesus, something's wrong. There's no greater name. There's no more wonderful name than the name of Jesus. And we need to be proclaiming Jesus and pointing people to Jesus and telling people about Jesus and saying the name Jesus.

And when the church stops doing that, what's the reason for existing? The church is here to point people to Jesus because he's the answer. That's what we're supposed to be doing. And if that's not happening, then what are we giving people? We're not giving them life because Jesus said in him is life. And the life was the light of man. Jesus said, I came to give you life and that more abundantly. So what am I imparting to anybody if I 'm not imparting Jesus? I 'm giving them nothing of substance. Guys, listen, we want to build our lives upon Jesus.

The church is built on Jesus. The church exists for Jesus. And it seems to me that in some places it's less about Jesus and more of tutorials on how to be good people, helpful anecdotes that lack the person and the work of Christ. You remember in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 5, remember Paul said this and this is really important. He said, we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves your bond servants for Jesus' sake. We're not preaching about us. We 're not pointing you to us. We don't preach ourselves. This is something as a preacher, as a pastor that I take very seriously, not to preach myself, but to preach Jesus and him crucified, to point you to Jesus.

Someone said this. They said, quote, the gospel is not what we preach, but it is whom we preach. No man has ever preached the gospel who hasn't preached Christ. Jesus Christ is the gospel. He is eternal life, close quote. By the way, that was J. Vernon McGee, but that he's the one that said it. In the book of Acts, when the church began to experience, as I mentioned, persecution and they scattered in every direction, a man by the name of Philip, who was one of the dynamic deacons, he went down to the area of Samaria.

And while he was in Samaria, the Bible tells us that a revival broke out in that region. And I believe that one of the main reasons for this powerful work of God's Holy Spirit in the region of Samaria was because of the message that Philip preached. And the Bible tells us in the book of Acts chapter 8 verse 5, notice what it says. It says, then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and he preached Christ to them. And that's why revival broke out. It's because he preached Christ. Same chapter later on, the Lord taps Philip on the shoulder as it were and says, hey, I want you to leave this place of revival and I want you to go down to Gaza, a deserted place.

There's no questioning God. There's no wondering why would you want me to leave a revival? This I got a great thing going here. People are getting saved. He he just immediately does what God says and he finds himself on a road there in Gaza and he's he encounters a man who's on a chariot and the Lord speaks to him and says, go overtake that chariot. And he runs up to the chariot and the man that's riding there is an Ethiopian eunuch. And and he asks the man, hey, do you do you know And he was reading the scroll of Isaiah of all things.

Just so happened a definite divine appointment. And he's reading in the scroll of Isaiah about the person of Christ. And Philip says, do you understand what you're reading? And the Ethiopian eunuch says, how can I understand unless somebody teaches me? And so he invited Philip up into that chariot. And it says in Acts chapter 8 verse 35, it says, then Philip opened his mouth and beginning at this scripture, he was in Isaiah, preached Jesus to him. Guys, we should be able to be in any scripture and somehow we just we bring it back to Jesus.

He opened this scripture, this passage, Old Testament, and preached Jesus to him. And after that, the man was saved and he said, hey, can I get baptized? And Philip right there on the side of the road baptized this Ethiopian eunuch. And the Bible says the Holy Spirit took Philip and he he vanished. I I don't exactly know what that means other than what it says. And the Ethiopian eunuch went back to Ethiopia, born again. Paul did the same thing within his preaching as he emphasized Jesus. And within this preaching of Jesus, he mentions here that he was warning people and he was teaching people.

The word that Paul uses here for warning, some of your translations may read admonishing. It literally means to place in the mind and so to warn or give notice beforehand, especially of danger or evil. And the idea is to lay a truth on the mind or the heart of the person with the stress being on influencing not only the intellect, but the will and the emotions and the disposition. Paul said, part of my preaching encompasses warning people, warning people of things that are to come. Often within preaching the word of God, there is the need to warn people of what is to come, to warn them of dangers that lay down that broad road that they're traveling, to warn them, to plead with them, to turn from the way that they're traveling.

So often in the Old Testament when the prophets were preaching, their prophesying and their preaching was warning people, warning people to turn and live, to repent and come back to God, to run from the idols and turn back to God. There was this constant warning. And many did not heed the warnings that were given. And there are times in preaching where there is an element of warning when the Bible warrants warnings. And as important as it is to provide a warning concerning danger, it is equally important, and Paul makes it clear here, of teaching people.

Warning people, yes, but also instructing people. And the word that Paul uses for teaching, it means imparting instruction. It means explaining doctrine. It means expounding on something to another person, communicating the knowledge of that which is which they've been ignorant about, exhibiting or instructing by precept. It's teaching people the word of God. This is what it says in its context. This is what it says historically and grammatically and and this is what it means at this time and this is how it applies at this present time, teaching people what God's word means, what it says, equipping the saints for the work of the ministry.

That is the whole point of teaching God's word. And the goal of teaching and admonishing is, as Paul said here in verse 28, to present every person perfect. The word perfect means mature. Perhaps if you've come here for a short amount of time, you wonder, why do you guys spend so much time in the Bible? Some of you I look around and you've been here for quite a length of time. And you know why. And you could tell them. But the reason why we spend so much time preaching and teaching and admonishing is because the goal is to bring us to a place of maturity.

And the way that we become mature in our walk with the Lord is by being taught to walk with the Lord and we're taught to walk with the Lord through his word. And thus there is the teaching, there is the preaching, there is the admonishing, there is the exhorting, there is the goal of equipping the saints to come to a place of maturity. But bringing people to the place of maturity in Paul's day, and I will say even in our own, it wasn't easy. It's actually hard work. That's why in the closing verse of this chapter, I want you to see in verse 29, notice Paul's words here.

He says, in light of the preaching, admonishing and teaching, he says, to this end, I also labor striving according to his working which works in me mightily. When Paul mentions that his ministry was labor, it's labor that involves toil and weariness and even sorrow. It speaks of an intense toil, even sweating and straining to the point of exhaustion if necessary. And it's interesting because it's used in the present tense, which means it was continual, continually laboring. It it was used this word was used for a work that left somebody so weary, it was as if a person had taken a beating.

So that's that's what it feels like in the ministry. And sure, for Paul, you read it, you definitely labored and you took a beating. It was Henry Blackaby who said, quote, that God will wear you out when you're in the center of his will. Jesus said, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest, workers. Jesus said, whoever puts his hands to the plow and looking back is is not fit for the kingdom. Paul said in the ministry that he was engaged in in the preaching, in teaching and seeking to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, he said, I I labored.

In fact, at one point he said, I labored above them all in drawing a comparison. Personally, I am thankful for the opportunity, for the privilege to serve the Lord in ministry. And I can honestly say that it has brought me some of the greatest blessings in my life and also some of the greatest hardships. Serving the Lord in ministry, laboring in the ministry has brought joy and tremendous sorrow. I can say that it's been one of the best things in my life and at the same time one of the most challenging things in my life.

After 25 years of serving the Lord in full-time ministry, it has tested me spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically in every financially, everywhere you can imagine. And there have been times that I couldn't imagine doing anything else with my life. And there have been times when I can imagine doing anything else with my life. But through it all, I am grateful to be able to say that God has remained faithful, sustained me by his grace. And I trust he will continue to sustain me because at the end of this, Paul says, in light of the labor, in light of the striving and what he was enduring, he says this, that God is working, this working which works in me mightily.

It was God's work in Paul that enabled Paul to work and to labor in the way that he did. It is God who works in us, the Bible says, both to will and to do for his good pleasure. We don't have the strength in and of ourselves to match the challenges in front of us, but God does. That is why in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10, these are passages that I find myself reflecting upon and remembering. He says, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. In Psalm 73 verse 26 it says, my flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

The Bible says in Isaiah 40 verse 29, he gives strength to the weary and he increases power, the power of the weak. And and on and on and on you could find passages that would encourage you in this regard that there is strength enough for the challenges ahead. And so Paul said, I choose to rejoice in the midst of this season of suffering because I realized that it's for a good cause. It's for the cause of Christ. I have the opportunity to identify with Jesus in his suffering. He said, I'm choosing to rejoice in my suffering because I know the message that I preach is bringing life and freedom to all who hear it.

People are being born again. People are being transformed. They're being saved through the power of the gospel. And if I suffer for that, then it's worth it to me. Certainly eternity will bear witness of that fact. I I choose to rejoice in the Lord though I am suffering at this time because I realize that this is part of my calling. And so I'll preach and I'll warn and I'll admonish and I'll trust that God will strengthen me.

Guest (Male): Hey, thanks for studying along with us today on a daily walk with Pastor John Randall. We'll hear more from Pastor John in a moment. Hear a daily walk online at adailywalk.org or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, have you seen Pastor John's a daily walk devotions? We post the daily devos at adailywalk.org. So grab your Bible, watch these encouraging daily devotionals. They're short enough to watch as you're getting ready in the morning or on your lunch break. Our featured resource is a very cool t-shirt that portrays the message, pray for the USA. You know, it's not hard to point out all that's wrong in this country.

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And we'd love to hear your thoughts. Let us know where you listen and what you're learning as you go through the Bible with John. Contact us there at the website adailywalk.org. As we return to Pastor John, he has a few questions to bring before us.

John Randall: So what challenges do you face tonight? What suffering do you encounter? What trial are you facing? And then the question would be, will you choose to rejoice? And will you rejoicing be based upon the promises that you know in God's word? Encourage you tonight. Find your strength in the Lord. Be strong in the Lord in the power of his might. He'll strengthen your heart. He'll give you what you need. He's faithful.

Guest (Male): Find your strength in the Lord. A good word there as we face the challenges of today and tomorrow. Well, next time on a daily walk, we're challenged to stay alert in these difficult last days when Pastor John Randall opens Colossians chapter 2.