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All principality and power, whom also you're circumcised and circumcisioned, made without hands, and putting off the body of the sin of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, there you are in the baptism, wherein also you are risen again through the faith of the operation of God, who has left raised him from your dead. And you, being then your sin, the uncircumcision of your flesh, having put it together with him, have forgiven it through all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, that was contrary to us, and took it out of the way of nailing to its cross, that it spoils principality and powers to be a show of them openly, trying to come over them immediately, that no man before judging in the meat, or drink, or respect, or holy, or of the new moon, or of the savages, which are a shadow of things to come to the bodies of Christ, and no man without view, be a reward in voluntary humility, worshipping in angels, protruding into those things which he has not seen, namely puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not only in the head, from which all the body, like joints and bands, have nourished him, administered him, and knit together, increasingly, increasing God, wherefore, that he be dead with Christ, with rudiments of the world. Why, as a living in the world, be subject to ordinances, and touch them, and taste them, and handle them, which are all to perish from the music, after the commandments of God have been entered, which thinks that we need a show of wisdom, and will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body, not to be honored, but to satisfy your flesh. For they are all among us great persons. Amen. So tonight I'm going to look at Colossians chapter number two, beginning in verse one there. It says, For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts might be comforted together, and knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the Spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ, as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. The part I really want to focus in on tonight is these next two verses where it says, Rooted up and built up in him, established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving, 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. That's where I get the title for the sermon tonight, which is spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. Of course, it's kind of a play on words. You've probably heard that out there when somebody's going to tell you the plot of a book or a movie or something. They'll say, hey, spoiler alert. They don't want to give anything away. And actually, it's a good use of that term because really what does it mean to be spoiled? Basically, if something is spoiled, it's gone to waste. Like, we might think of if we leave a jug of milk out in the counter, especially here in Arizona, it's not going to take very long at all. If we leave something out that needs to be kept fresh, that's going to spoil. And it's not necessarily that it's rotten. Of course, that's what's happened, that the milk has curdled and it's no longer good. But we would say it's spoiled not because of the physical condition that it's in, but because of the fact that it's been wasted. That's what it means to be spoiled, to have lost something of value. Just like if someone were to warn you about a spoiler alert, now wanting to give away the plot of something, they don't want you to lose the best part of that plot. That's the twist or the way it turns out. That's what's the value behind any good story. It's the main plot lines. You don't want to be giving those away. You don't want to spoil them. And that's how the Bible uses this term, to be spoiled. And the Bible's warning us very clearly here. Paul is warning the Colossians and ourselves as well that we need to beware, verse 8, lest any man spoil you. So he's warning us this because of the fact that there is the possibility that we could be spoiled. And again, being spoiled is just, means to be spoiled or basically looted. We don't want to be spoiled spiritually. We don't want other people to come in and take that which is most valuable to us. We don't want things in our lives to go to waste. We don't want to be spoiled. If you would, go over to Judges chapter 2. Keeps up in Colossians 2 all night, but go back to Judges 2 real quickly. Let's just look a little bit at what this word, how the word spoiled is used in Scripture. You remember back in Genesis 34, you're going to Judges 2, it says that the sons of Jacob came upon the slain and spoiled the city because they had defiled their sister. And they took their sheep and their oxen and their asses and that which is in the city and that which is in the field and all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives, they took captive and spoiled even all that was in the house. So you can see again, to spoil something means you come along and you take that which is valuable for yourself. It's basically looting, right, really. And in Exodus chapter 12, it's used again. In verse 36, this is when Israel's coming out, first leaving Egypt. The Bible says, and the Lord gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that when they lent on them such things as they required and they spoiled the Egyptians. And really, they did it without even lifting a figure. I mean, it was a miracle. They're just like, here, take this. And they were able to spoil them, take that which is valuable from them for their own, okay. You'll see this again in Judges chapter 2 verse 13, it says, and they forsook the Lord and served Baal and Ashtoreth. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel and he delivered them into the hands of the spoilers and that spoiled them. And he sold them into the hands of the enemies roundabout so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. Whithersoever they went, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil as the Lord had said and as the Lord had sworn unto them and they were greatly distressed. Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And I wanted you to turn to Judges 2 specifically because as Paul warned us, we are not to allow, we need to be aware lest any would spoil us, right. And we see here even in Judges, God's own people being spoiled and God allowing it to happen, okay. In fact, it was of the hand of God that he brought these spoilers upon them and ultimately delivered them from those same spoilers, okay. So we need to beware because of the fact that God's people can be spoiled. You can be spoiled in this life. Now it might not be like what we read here where people are gonna come in and take your physical belongings. They're gonna empty out your bank account and drive off with your car and your wife and your kids and take everything you own and spoil you in that way. But we are warned that we can be spoiled as God's people even in the day and age that we're living in and the way that which we can be spoiled is spiritually. You know, you can let a lot of great things just go to waste in your life. You can let a lot of things just go to pot. You can let a lot of things just sit around and rot in your Christian life. You can let the devil come in and take things from you and you're going to end up spoiled spiritually, okay. We need to make sure that we don't allow that to happen. That's why there's such a strong warning in the word of God concerning this. Go to 1 Peter chapter number five, 1 Peter chapter number five. The Bible says in 2 John, for as many, there are many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist look to yourselves that you lose not those things which we have wrought but that we receive a full reward. John is warning them, hey, there's a lot of antichrists out there. There's a lot of false prophets out there. There's a lot of deceivers out there. Make sure that you look to yourself and lose not the things which we have wrought that we may receive a full reward. You say, why would the devil want to loot you? Because Christians have the best loot. You know, we have something to offer that nobody else can have. We have an inheritance, undefiled, incorruptible, reserved for us in heaven. We have this great eternal reward. We have to be careful that we don't let these deceivers, these antichrists, Satan himself and his minions come in and rob us of our reward. We want to have a full reward. Look, if you get to heaven and you find out you missed out on rewards, you've essentially been spoiled. You've missed out on an opportunity. You've lost something valuable. And this is an important message because it'd be real easy to preach this if I was just talking about physical things, wouldn't it? Say, hey, don't let anybody steal stuff from you. Everyone would be like, yeah, amen. Not gonna let that happen. You know, we'd be real careful to protect the things that we own. Why? Because we can see them. We see the value in them. It's right here, right now. You know, our internal inheritance, you know, the reward that's waiting for us in heaven, we're not even entirely sure what's all involved there. We know there's the new body, that's guaranteed us. We know there's gonna be a mansion and there's gonna be a crown of life and there's gonna be these different rewards and some people are gonna shine more brighter than others, that there's gonna be, you know, different levels of authority given. But you know, we don't really place as much value as we should on that sometimes because it's not really tangible. It's not really something we've seen. It's not really something we've even known. It's not something we know to value the way that we should. And as a result, we're much more prone to let the devil come in and spoil us and take away our reward and waste things in the Christian life, waste the spiritual things that matter most in our life. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 10, cast not away therefore your confidence which hath great recompense of reward. You know, the confidence that we have in Christ, don't cast that away, there's reward there. For you have need of patience that after you've done the will of God, you might receive the promise. When does the reward come? When do we receive the promise after we've done the will of God? We don't know exactly what that recompense of reward is going to be. We don't know the fullness of it. We see through a glass darkly, but I'm telling you it's there, it's worth it. All the labors, all the trials, all the suffering, all the inconvenience, everything that we have to go through doing the will of God, it's worth it. Don't let this world rob you. Don't let some vain philosophy creep into your life. Don't get your priorities so out of whack that you end up losing that reward in heaven by letting things in heaven go to waste. Things that you otherwise could have had will be spoiled and taken from you. Jesus said, I come quickly. Hold that fast which thou, hold fast which thou hast, let that no man take thy crown. That no man, he says, hold fast, right? Hold fast which thou hast that no man take thy crown. And it's interesting that he's saying that no man take thy crown. And back in Colossians, we saw Paul saying, you know, let not any man spoil you. It's man that does it. Man can come in and spoil us. And we'll see how in a minute. Ultimately, it's Satan who's trying to spoil us. He uses man as an instrument. Okay, he uses the world. The Bible says that we ought to resist the devil and he will flee from you. Look, if we're being commanded to resist the devil, that means that the devil's trying to get to us. If we're being told to resist the devil so that he will flee from you, that means the devil's coming to us. And he has intent. Obviously, he can't take our salvation, but you know what he wants? He wants your loot. He wants your spiritual goods. He wants to spoil you in this life and rob you of the reward that you could have in heaven. That's what he wants. We cannot allow that to happen. How do we do that? 1 Peter 5, verse 8. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. This is not a mystery. This isn't something that's unique to any certain group of Christians. This is something that we all have to face. This is something that we all have to be vigilant about, the fact that we have an enemy that wants to spoil us, that wants to take our reward. And again, we're much more prone to let that happen because we can't really see what it is that we have in heaven waiting for us, because it's not something we've ever known before. But I guarantee you the day we get there and we find out what we've missed out on, if we have allowed ourselves to be spoiled in this life, we'll regret it. We're not just gonna go, oh, well, you know, whatever. It's gonna be something we wish we didn't allow to happen. So we need to not allow anyone to spoil us, any man. How are we spoiled? Go back to Colossians chapter two. I'm just gonna touch on a couple things about how we're spoiled and just really kind of just trying to put you on guard against this. You know, we could probably do a whole series about all the different ways that the devil tries to spoil us, that the world tries to spoil us. But I wanna just at least get your guard up, you know, get your dukes up. You know, tuck the chin in, we got an enemy, okay? And he's swinging. Look at Colossians chapter two, verse four. And this I say, lest any man shall beguile you with enticing words. Enticing words, words that would entice you, that would allure you, that would try to draw you in, right? That's how we're gonna be spoiled. You know, it's not like the devil's gonna show up, the world's gonna show up with a ski mask and a gun and say, you know, I've come for your kids. I've come for your goods, right? They're gonna use enticing words. They're gonna doll it up. It's gonna, and essentially it's laying a trap, right? They're putting that nice shiny little thing in the middle of the bear trap. They're putting that piece of meat right above the snare. They're trying to lure us in with enticing words. They're gonna try to make it sound like what they're saying is good. He's saying, don't let this happen lest any man should beguile you, trick you, fool you. That's what beguile means. With what? With enticing words. Devil's not just gonna come out and club you over the head and take your goods. Like back, you know, in the Old Testament examples where it's a physical spoiling that's taking place. You know, the spoiling that's gonna take place today spiritually is something that's gonna be done with subtlety. It's gonna be something that's gonna be done by being enticed. Go over to 1 Timothy 3. Again, keep something in Colossians 2. The Bible says in Romans 16, now I beseech you brethren, mark them which cause the visions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them. You're going to 1 Timothy 3. For they are such that serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. There's many antichrists gone out into the world. There are many men out there that would seek to beguile us. There are many people that don't serve the Lord Jesus Christ. They serve only their own belly. They're in the ministry for their own selves. They're promoting things for their own good, for their own gain. And how are they going to take advantage of us? Through good words and fair speeches, through enticing words. Okay, this is how we're gonna be spoiled. And I'll get real specific here. I should have had you keep something in Colossians if you could go back real quick. You should have something there, okay? Keep something in 1 Timothy 3. What are the fair speeches? What are the enticing words? How does that manifest? You know, it's not like we're being sweet. You know, it's not this sweet talking that's taking place. But really it's through philosophy. That's what it says in verse eight. 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. Okay? These are the different avenues by which the Satan and man tries to spoil us. Through the enticing words, the good words and fair speeches. Those show up through what? Through philosophy, vain deceit, the tradition of men, the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. You know, those are several, each one of those is a different avenue. And really I'm just gonna focus on for a minute tonight the first one there through philosophy. We need to be careful that we don't allow ourselves to become enticed and beguiled and ultimately spoiled by philosophy, by those that would preach and teach a certain philosophy. And really philosophy, when I believe the way he's using that, obviously it means the love of wisdom, right? But a lot of times it even means just a promotion of like guiding principles. Some people have a philosophy on life, okay? Now look, the world has its philosophy out there, doesn't it? The world has a philosophy about every aspect of your life. They say, hey, there's a way you should live, there's a way your marriage should be run, there's a way your children should be run, there's a way you should educate them. I mean, every single aspect of your life the world has a philosophy for. Here's what your priorities should be, here's how you should spend your time. They have a philosophy for it. And if we're just gonna go along with the world, we're just gonna conform to this world, we're just gonna go with the flow of this world, you know what's gonna end up happening is you're gonna end up getting spoiled by philosophy, by the world's approach to living. And it might not even happen, you know, you won't even see it happening. It's that subtle, right? That's why it's called we're being enticed. That's why it's enticing words. That's why it's, you know, people end up being beguiled by what? Good words and fair speeches. It's happening so subtly you don't even realize it. That's why we have to beware. We have to be vigilant. We have to be on guard. That's why I'm preaching this, to get your, you know, put yourself on guard, get you on your toes when it comes to this idea of people trying to spoil you through philosophy, through their, you know, guiding principles when it comes to life, okay? You won't know what's happened until you get there, right? You won't even know you've been spoiled until you get to heaven, okay? If you would go over to 1 Timothy chapter number three. In fact, you won't even feel like you're being spoiled. You know, you follow the world's philosophy, you might even end up living a pretty, you know, abundant life. You might end up with a lot of wealth. You might even end up a fairly, you know, a happy person. You might, you know, you might end up in good health and plenty of money. That's the thing though, the devil's not after that. That's what he's using to spoil you. Because what's he after? What's the loot he wants to get? It's not your bank account. He wants to get your heavenly reward. That's what he's trying to spoil, rob you of your reward. He wants to take that crown from you. And he'll even use things like money to do it. He'll use things like the pleasures and cares of this life as those very things that you think, oh, I must be doing so well because I have all these things and this stuff, but that's actually what's spoiling you. That's actually what's gonna rob you and take that crown. We become all about those things. And look, I'm not saying anybody that has wealth or does well has been spoiled, but I'm saying if we're not careful, if we're not on guard, these things can creep in and choke the word and make us unfruitful. And if we're not fruitful, we have no reward. If we're not fruitful, if we've been choked out by the kerosene's world, we have been spoiled. We've been robbed. We might not think it's a big deal now, but we will when we get there. Look at 1 Timothy 3, verse three. If any man teach otherwise, consent not to wholesome words. Even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the doctor which is according to godliness, he is proud knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words where have cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men and corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness. From such withdraw thyself. Now there's people in this world, this is their philosophy. They don't consent to wholesome words, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. They're proud knowing nothing. They don't about questions and strifes of words where have cometh envy, strife, and evil surmisings. This is their philosophy. Their perverse disputings, and what is it that they suppose? What is their philosophy? Hey, gain is godliness. And he's talking about physical wealth because he goes on in the chapter and warns about it. That's what their philosophy is. Hey, gain is godliness. The more money you have, the more stuff you have, the more things you have, the more toys, the more leisure time, that means you're godly. That means God must be blessing you. It's kind of like the prosperity gospel that's out there. But it doesn't even have to be to that extreme where it's just straight up prosperity gospel for it to spoil you. This is the world's philosophy. Whoever has the most toys when they die wins. That's the world, that's their philosophy. Get more stuff, more things, accrue more wealth, make your life all about just the pleasures of this life, care only about the things of this world, that's godliness, that must mean you're doing well. But what's really going on is that your priorities are out of whack and the devil is spoiling you of a heavenly reward which far exceeds anything that you could gain in this world. And he says, from such withdraw thyself. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, deceiving you by getting you to chase after vanity and that which is not. He's saying look, withdraw yourself from this. Don't dabble with people like this. Don't get caught up in this. And look, there's a lot of people today, especially the day and age where we're living in, with social media and everything else where it can just come in from every avenue possible. So many people with their philosophy, their take on things, and they will spoil you. And they will get you chasing your tail going after this world's goods. He says, withdraw yourself from these people. Don't give them an ear. Look at verse six, but godliness with contentment is great gain. You know, if you have contentment, you've gained a lot. If you're a godly person and you've learned just to be content with such things as you have, that's great gain. And it seems kind of contrary. It seems kind of backwards, doesn't it? Supposing that gain is godliness. We say, well, that's great gain. I mean, it's physical wealth, it's gaining. You're getting things. How is that not gain? But it's the contentment with godliness that's great gain. Because the contented person who says, I have enough, I have what I need to survive, I have what I need to live this life, and I'm content, that person's probably gonna be a little more heavenly minded. They're gonna be focusing on things that matter in eternity. They're gonna be looking to that reward, not just what they can get here on earth, not just what pleasures and cares and what things of this world they can just squeeze out of this life and just try to get as much fun and money and wealth and everything else. They just want to squeeze it all out of this life. They're just so focused on that, they totally miss serving God. They totally miss earning heavenly rewards. It's gone from them. But the person who's godly, the person who hasn't been caught up, who hasn't been beguiled, the person who hasn't been deceived with this vain philosophy to end up chasing wealth, they're just content, they're gonna have a great reward, just not in this life. They're gonna have great gain, just not right now. Their gain is yet to come. But you know what, their gain is gonna be eternal. Their gain isn't gonna rust. No one's gonna break through and steal that gain. Look at verse seven. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. You're not gonna get to heaven, and God's not gonna go, okay, where's your suitcase? What'd you bring with you? Okay, it's time to dole out the rewards. Where's your stuff? Let's see how many things you acquired in this life. Show me your bank statement. Show me how much you invested. Show me how much profit you made. And I understand we all gotta work and make money, and God gives us power to get wealth and all that, but that's not what we're gonna be rewarded for. Look, that's all wood, hay, and stubble. You ever wonder about that? The wood, hay, and stubble that gets burned up? You know, what is that? You know, there's the wood, hay, and stubble, and there's gold, silver, and precious stone. Only one survives the fire. The wood, hay, and stubble, they burn up. You know, wood, hay, and stubble are actually useful things. Wood's pretty useful, isn't it? I mean, build this pulpit. We're surrounded by it. But you know what, it has no eternal value. Hay's pretty useful. You could feed animal hay. You can make bedding out of it. Stubble, I'm sure there's a use. You know, you sell razors. Wood, hay, and stubble. Yeah, these are all useful things. They have some practical use, but they just represent, I believe, just the things that we all have to kind of just do in life. We're not gonna get a reward for paying our water bill or earning a paycheck. We brought nothing into this world. We're carrying nothing out. You're not taking any of it with you. So you might as well just learn to be content and not allow yourself to be spoiled spiritually by the vain philosophy of this world that teaches you, hey, just covet, get more, it's all about wealth, and just get you on that hamster wheel of chasing after money. Look at verse nine. There's this really strong warning about riches. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and into a snare and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil. It doesn't say money's evil. It says the love of it is evil. And even God's people can start to love money. They can just start wanting money and more money, and they can get discontent. And you know what, the worst thing that could happen is you get it, because then you'll just want more. And you might get it, too. God's people, they can start to love money, they can start chasing after it, and you could even get it, because that's the world's philosophy. The world's set up for it. You don't think if any one of us in this room decide we're gonna go make a bunch of money, we could? I guarantee you, every person, if they were driven enough and disciplined enough, every single person in this room, in the country that we're living in today, every single person could grow up if they haven't already and go out there and be a millionaire. You don't think that's possible? We could all go out there and educate ourselves and get multiple jobs or do whatever we have to do to earn six-figure incomes and be millionaires if we wanted to. That could happen. But you know what's gonna happen in the process of getting all that gain? When we're discontent, we're gonna get spoiled. And it's just not gonna look like it, because our pockets will be lined. The wallet, we won't even be able to close the wallet. How am I being spoiled? Deacon, what are you talking about? Look at all this. It's your heavenly reward that's going up in smoke. It's your heavenly reward. It's those eternal rewards. That treasure in heaven is just dwindling and it's not gonna be there when you get there. That's what the devil is using to spoil us. The cares of this world, the love of money. Not only that, he says, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. You know, rich people, they can get into things that poor people can't. And they pierce themselves through with many sorrows. I think, you know, a lot of times, money just makes sinful people even more sinful. Because there's a lot of sins that are just kinda off limit, off limits to those of us that don't have as much funds. We're not all flying out to Epstein Island, are we? But look at all the Hollywood whoremongers and all the wealthy people, you know, the mutual hedge fund investors, I don't know what you call it. They're the ones with all the private islands and all kinds of iniquity and filth. They've pierced themselves through with many sorrows. They can have it. I love verse 11, but thou, O man of God, flee these things. Follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. What are the things that we should try to inherit in this life? What are the things that we should try to acquire? Spiritual things, things of the heart, things after the inward man, things that aren't tangible, things that cannot be seen in this world. Love, patience, righteousness, godliness, faith. You can't just, you can't put a dollar sign on that. It's not like I can just reach in the pulpit here, you know, and pull out, hey, here's faith, here's love, here's patience, here's meekness, here's righteousness. You know, let the bidding, the bidding begins at $5. Do I hear five? Five, five, got five over here, five, how do I hear 10, 10, 10, 10, you know, sold to the man in the black shirt, you know? It's not gonna work like that. You know, these are things that we have to pursue in place of these other things. And if we allow ourselves to get spoiled through the philosophy of this world and start chasing after riches and things that are gonna, that we can't even take with us, it's gonna spoil us of these things in this life, we're not gonna have the righteousness, we're not gonna have the godliness, the faith, the love, the patience, the meekness, we're not gonna have those things. We're gonna get spoiled in this life and then we're gonna get to heaven, discontented, and find out there was a reward we could have had that we've also been spoiled from, that's been taken from us, we've been looted, we've been gutted in this life and in the next because of the simple, vain philosophy of chasing money. It's the root of all evil. Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life. Whereunto thou art is called and has professed a good profession before many witnesses. You know, that's what we ought to get ourselves involved in, the fight of faith. I understand, you know, we all got responsibilities, there's things we gotta take care of, but let's get them taken care of and get in the fight of faith. Let's follow after these things. You know, let's gain these spiritual things. Let's get those heavenly rewards. And let's not allow ourselves to be spoiled to the philosophy that's out there. And look, it's out there, it's everywhere. You know, there's people I listen to that aren't Christians. You know, and I'm careful what I listen to. And there's people I've just stopped listening to. Because I'm just like, you know what, they're just a man of the world and I don't wanna have anything to do with what they're promoting. You know, one example, there's a neuroscientist I like to follow. He's really popular, right? Andrew Huberman. And look, that guy's got some good stuff. You know, I'm fascinated by stuff about neurology and the brain. I mean, it's fascinating when he starts talking about the human organism and explaining how these different, you know, parts of our anatomy and our mind and our neurology, how these things function and how we could actually, you know, use them to be more productive or more happy or whatever. When you understand how these different processes work, you know, you can use that to your advantage. He's got a lot of good stuff. You know, and I would follow that podcast and then it's like, but slowly after a couple years he'd been around, it's like, okay, now let's talk about, you know, using psychedelics to treat people for depression. And it's like, I'm out. Because that's ungodly. You know, you're never gonna hear that come out of my mouth. Hey, you should go microdose something and get, you know, work out your marriage problems with a counselor. Go take, go microdose, you know, LSD or MDMA or whatever it is that they're promoting. Go take some mushrooms and talk it out. Because you have to understand, you know, even people who are well-intentioned and maybe even know some things in this world and might even have some practical things to offer, they have this big void in their thinking called God. God is not even a part of their thinking. It's not even a factor. And if it is, it's not the Christian God, it's not the God of the Bible. You know, there's another guy I would like to, I listen to from time to time. You know, and he's got some good, you know, outlook. He's got a good outlook on life and just some practical stuff. But, you know, he did a video on finances. And he's like, you know, I'm gonna tell you how to get out of debt. Pay yourself first. And there's this popular book that's been written, I don't know how long ago, but this whole thing was, hey, before you do any, before you pay any bills, pay yourself 10%. Isn't it interesting? They use 10% and I'm thinking, hmm, I think there's somebody else that has, has a claim on that first 10%. Who is it? Oh yeah, God. But see, this doesn't factor into their equation. This, that's not part of their thinking. It's not part of their philosophy. God, go do some yoga. That's their, that's their spirituality. You know, meditate, go write in your journal. You know, if you want to be spiritual or something. You know, the Bible says we are to honor the Lord with our substance, with the first fruits of all our increase. And then our barns shall be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. That's a promise from God. That if you'll tithe, and I'm not going to go into tithing. It's a really boring subject to preach about. I can explain it to you outside the pulpit in just like a few minutes, okay? It doesn't take a whole sermon sometimes. But anyway, the promise is, is that if you do honor the Lord with your substance, the first fruit of thy substance, he'll honor you, he'll prosper you. People, oh, I can't afford to tithe. Well, see, here's the thing, it's a percentage. It's not a flat rate. So if you only made 100 bucks, you know, you only got to pay 10. Is that right? You know, you only made 10 bucks, you only got to pay, who's got a calculator, one, right? If you only made a buck, 10 cents. That's only you wanted to save a penny. Right? You can't afford 10 cents if you made a buck. I remember early on, since I'm on the subject, I remember early on when I first started going to church, I learned about tithing, and I started tithing, and I made kind of a grumbling comment about it to another brother in the church. And he just said, well, hey, think about it like this. God only asks for 10, he lets you keep 90. And it's his anyway, right? It's all his to begin with. And he's like, you know, God lets you keep 90. It could be the other way around, where God says, give me 90, and you can keep 10, right? Anyway, I don't want to go on and on about that, but my point was this, is that, you know, that's an example of how the world's philosophy does not always gel with the Bible's. And the world has philosophy on every single aspect of your life. But guess what? So does the Bible. The Bible touches on every single aspect of our lives. It does. And it's not like there's this myriad of things in our lives. You know, life has just, you know, everything kind of falls into just a few handful of categories, at least that's what I've noticed. Job, family, you know, what else is there? I don't know. Marriage, child rearing, I understand there's different facets to all these things. But hey, you know, the Bible touches on all of it. Name the issue. There's a biblical approach to it. And if we're just going to allow ourselves to only listen to what the world has to say, we're going to end up spoiled. We're going to end up doing something contrary to what the scripture says. I mean, child rearing and marriage, that's a big one. You know, if you want to follow the world's philosophy on those issues, good luck to you. Don't be surprised when your children are spoiled. When Satan's come and spoiled your children, you know, when they grow up and just wash out of church and go live for the devil, because you adopted the world's philosophy. You know, the Bible has some real clear teaching on child rearing, doesn't it? It has real clear teaching on marriage. You know, husbands love your wives. Wives submit to your husbands and everything, as unto the Lord. And it's not that complicated. And like, if we get that down, a lot of marriages will work themselves out. Is that the world's philosophy? No. World's philosophy is 50-50. There is no 50-50. No way. What about when you come to a decision where you each have a different take on it? You're when you're at odds. How does 50-50 work in that situation? You got to get a third party involved, flip a coin? What are you going to do, ask the kids? You know, the 50-50 doesn't work. 50-50 just breeds contention. You know, how about 100%? Zero. You know, how about my way? That's it. And I'll, you know, I'm the husband. I'll just be the authority in the home. What I say goes. And I'll just do my job and love my wife. And do my best to provide for her, take care of her, and do all my decision making with them in mind. People, oh, you got, you chauvinist, you're just in it for yourself. Right, yeah. Because it's so much easier to just, you know, keep my wife at home and just put all the financial burden on me. Right? You know, but that's the world's philosophy, isn't it? Hey, no, put her out in the work field, you know, and split the income. You know, get a dual income coming in. You know, put the kids in, you know, public school, you know, and let the devil raise them. You know, who knows what they're being taught down there anymore, it's a good night. They'll walk out not knowing what gender they are. That's the world's philosophy. And look at how many people have adopted it. Just eating it up fork and spoon. It'd be a lot easier just to go along with that and just get along and not have, you know, at maybe in the time being, but you know, you'll end up being spoiled in the end. There'll be hell to pay at the end. When, you know, your son comes home and says, I'm a girl. You know, or you're, whatever, who knows? All kinds, I'm not gonna go on and on about it, but all kinds of different things could happen when you adopt the world's philosophy. When it comes to marriage, child rape, you name it. The Bible knows best. Don't let yourself be spoiled. Look at, let's go back to Colossians chapter number two, I believe, is where we are. Verse six, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus Lord, so walk ye in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as he have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. So we don't wanna be spoiled. We don't want to let any man beguile us with their good words and fair speeches. We need to, you know, prevent this from happening. We read Colossians two, and we saw that the potential problem is that we could be spoiled. That's why we were warned, beware lest any man spoil you. That was the problem, the potential problem there, that we could be spoiled. What's the prevention? We saw what the problem was, how do we prevent it? It's right there in verse six. We gotta walk in him, rooted and built up and established in the faith. You know, if the Bible has all the answers, we need to be rooted in it. Be rooted. Be rooted in the scripture. Because isn't that what I was just saying? There's the world's philosophy, there's the Bible's philosophy, and quite often they're at odds. You say, well, I'm not gonna get spoiled. Okay, then you need to get rooted. You have to know what this says. You have to go, what does the Bible say about marriage? What does the Bible say about child-rearing? What does the Bible say about work? What does the Bible say about serving God? What does the Bible say about all these different issues that the world has an answer for? You know, we need to be rooted in this. And once we're rooted, then we're what? Built up. Then we have something to build upon. We're rooted through these disciplines of the Christian life, going to church, reading the Bible, praying. We're built up, we put these things into practices, we develop the knowledge and the discernment. But you gotta get rooted first. Get rooted in the word of God, know what it says, then you're built up. Isn't that kinda what he's, he's kinda laying out a process here? Rooted and built up in him. Lay the foundation first, get rooted, get in church, get in your Bible. Learn the word of God, know what it says. Before you go to some vain philosopher out there, some self-help guru, find out what the Bible says first. You'll probably have your answer right then and there. In fact, I know you will. And once you have that, once you're rooted, then guess what, you're established in him. You're rooted and you're built up. Excuse me, I got ahead of myself. You're built up. Once you have a root, once you have a base, you have something to build upon. So now I know how to live my life. Now I know what the Bible says about these different things. Now I have a philosophy, a biblical approach to life that I can start to build and structure my life upon. Now I know how to spend my time and spend my effort and my energies and the things I should care about and things I should care about. That's how you're built up and eventually you become established, unshakeable. You don't start there, that's where you end up after you've been rooted, after you've been built up. Man, you get to the place where you resist the devil long enough and he flees. He says there's no point trying to spoil this guy. I can't get to his goods. He's a strong man, I can't bind him. Because he's been established, he has unshakeable resolve. You know, I've been living the Christian life for 20 something years, I don't even know. Do you think that tomorrow I'm going to adopt a new approach on child rearing? Because of some bozo on the internet or whatever? You think I'm going to stumble across Dr. Spock's book? He's even a thing anymore, I don't know. Or whoever it is. I'm going to watch some rerun of Oprah and just rethink my whole life. You know, I'm going to hear that guy on the internet say, hey, pay yourself first and give up tithing. There's no way it's going to happen. And the devil knows it. I'm not saying to boast or anything like that, I'm just saying, you get rooted, you get built up, eventually you're established. And you're not going to be moved on certain things. You know, my marriage is going to be the way it is until we're dead, until one of us dies. It's going to take death to get you out from under my authority. It's just going to take literal death. It's not a threat, it's a promise. It's true though. You know, someone's going to come along and slide some book across the table, explain to me how the world lives their lives and how their marriages are. I'm going to go, oh, you know, turns out I was all wrong about this stuff, nevermind. No, because I'm established. But it starts with getting rooted. And again, what's the broader point I'm making here? This is how you prevent being spoiled. Isn't that what Paul said? And that's what the whole context of the chapter is, right? He's saying, beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and all these other things. And he says, as you've received Christ Jesus, so walk in him, rooted and built up and established in the faith. That's the antidote to being spoiled. That's how you're going to prevent it. So get rooted if you're not. If you're rooted, great. Get built up. If you're built up, great. You're on your way to being established. You know, I was going to have us go to Matthew 7, but we all know it. I'll just read you verse 24. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock. And what are those sayings, friend? It's this right here. If we'll hear these, and by the way, it's not hearing it, that's enough. Whosoever heareth it and doeth them, whoever hears it gets rooted and starts to build upon it, gets built up, actually starts doing the things that are written in this book, adopts the world's, or excuse me, the Bible's philosophy and not the world's, rejects the world's philosophy and says, I'm going to do things God's way. The person that does that, Jesus says, that person's going to be like somebody who built their house upon a rock. Say, well, what do I need a rock for? Verse 25, and the rains descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. That's being established, friend. When you've heard these things and you've done them and you've built upon a rock, nothing's going to shake you anymore. The world's philosophies, you're going to hear it and go, pfft, garbage. Microdose, MDMA, unfollow. Pay myself first, unsubscribe. Or just downvote and ignore. You're going to sift through that feed, yeah, this is garbage, this is garbage, this is garbage. You're going to find yourself more and more in this book and say, you know, let me just find out what the Bible says about it. Let me memorize some scripture about whatever it is. Let me figure out, you know, let me go back and listen to the sermon on that subject. Let me get established, let me get built up, let me get rooted. That's how you're going to end up on that rock, unshakable. But whoever's here with these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his palace upon the sand. Same storm, the rains descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of it. The guy who didn't build, who didn't get established, didn't get rooted, it's all going to fall apart. The world's philosophy is shifting sand. I mean, just look at what they believe. Just look how far they've shifted in all these issues. Just look how far down in the mire they've sunk because they're not built upon a rock. You know, and let me give you a spirit, I mean, I love this, there's a spiritual forecast. What's in store, what's ahead? Let me give you your spiritual forecast. Rain, floods, and wind. Each guy's going to get it. It's not like, oh, if I do things God's way that it's just going to be blue skies and sunshine all the time. No, you're going to have the same storms that the other guys have. You're going to face the same struggles, the same trials, that you're going to have to go through the same things in life that everybody else is going to have to go through. The same rain, the same wind, the same floods, it's coming to every single one of us. Saved, unsaved, it doesn't matter. The only difference is whether or not we've built our house upon his sayings or not. And not just hurt them, but actually begun to do them and put them into practice. That's the difference. The same storm's coming. You know, and the world tries to address the storm, don't they? They know there's wind, they know there's rain, they know that the floods are there, and they have their own approach. It's just not God's way, right? They have their own way of trying to deal with things, and it doesn't work, because it's shifting sand. And, you know, I mean, we could go on and on about that. You know, they have their own approach to all these different areas of life. Look where it's led us. I rest my case. You know, and don't, what I'm trying to, I'm not trying to change them. I'm just trying to warn everybody in this room, beware, let any man spoil you, through vain, through philosophy and vain deceit. Don't let any man beguile you with enticing words. Don't lose your reward. Let no man take your crown. Don't be spoiled. Spoiler alert! It's out there. The devil wants it. He wants to rob you of your eternal reward. He wants to rob you of all the good things that you can have in this life, the spiritual things that really matter. He wants to take them from you. Don't let him do it. Get in the word of God, put it into practice, adopt the Bible's philosophy on life, and you will have joy, peace, contentment, godliness, which is great gain, and an eternal reward in heaven waiting for you. Let's go ahead and have a word of prayer. Dear Lord, again, thank you for this stern warning in the word of God, Lord, that there are those out there that seek to deceive us and to spoil us. And Lord, I pray you'd help us to always seek first the kingdom of God, Lord, and allow these other things to be added unto us, that we would put your work and your ministry and your word before anything else, Lord, and help us to use it as the guiding light that it is in this dark world. We ask in Christ's name, amen. One day, we're going to realize the time. Take whatever I know. Keep holding back all. We are all living in heaven right now. One day, we're going to realize the time. One day, we're going to realize the time. One day, we're going to realize the time. One day, we're going to realize the time. One day, we're going to realize the time. One day, we're going to realize the time. One day, we're going to realize the time. One day, we're going to realize the time. One day, we're going to realize the time. One day, we're going to realize the time. One day, we're going to realize the time.