Christ is Enough

What's up, Pando? Thanks so much for hanging out with us today. I just want you to know right before you start this message, go ahead, put away any kind of distractions that could be out there, any notes that don't apply to the message, any books that don't apply to what you're about to do. Grab a blank piece of paper, grab a pen, and get ready to write down some things that you learned from the message today. And afterwards, what I want you to do, I want you to take those two or three things that you really feel God has called you to do and understand from this message, and I want you to pray about them. I want you to pray that God bring to you, bring to life the things that He wants you to know and you to change in your own life. And I want you to talk about that with a trusted friend. As we listen to these messages, it's really easy for us to kind of just kind of tune it out or or hear just a bunch of words. And the reality is, is God's trying to communicate something to you through His Word. And so I challenge you to interact with the Word in that way today. Thanks so much. Let's hop into this message. We don't know each other. I've got three daughters at home. They are four years old, two years old, and ten months old. JC, Callie, and Annie. And, you know, if you're a parent, you know that every single one of the days of the birth of your kids is one of the most memorable and meaningful days of your life. And I remember unique moments from each one of those days. But, you know, the first just really stands out because, like, that was the day in which I became a dad. Like, your first kid, that's the day in which you became a parent. It really changed everything. And then I remember something that was surprising to me about the birth of our second daughter, because what was surprising to me was that became really the most important day in my oldest daughter's life. Because that's the day in which she believed she became a mom. Because the moment her sister was born, it's like, baby dolls don't need them anymore. I have a baby to order around now. I get to feed her. I get to tell her what to do. And even now, two and a half years later, we're parenting this out of our oldest. JC, you are not the mom. Like, nearly every single day we catch her saying things like, hey JC, did you wash your hands well enough in the bathroom? Let me

look at your hands. And it's like, no, that's not how it goes. We hear JC tell her sister Callie, hey Callie, you're not old enough to play with those toys yet. It's like, yes she is. What do you mean? Or Callie, you can't leave the dinner table until you eat the rest of your food. And we just have to tell her, hey JC, you're not the mom. You're not in charge of her. I'm the dad. Mom's the mom. And then we look at Callie and say, Callie, just ignore her. Like, you can play with her. You don't take orders from her. She's your sister. She's not your mom. Because if you listen to her, she doesn't really have your best interest in mind. She's gonna lead you somewhere you don't want to go. In fact, last week we walked into the room. We walked into the kitchen table and they're both sitting at the table. Callie, my little kid, she's licking Play-Doh like this. She looks up like this. And we go, Callie, what are you doing? And she just goes, JC told me to do it. And we just go, JC, don't order your sister around. You're not the mom. We're in charge. And we go to Callie and say, Callie, don't listen to her. She's not in charge of you. We are. Come to us. Listen to us. I start there this morning because this is really what Paul is gonna do in this text. As we continue on in Colossians, we're gonna be in verses 16 through 23. He's writing to this church. If you've been with us, you know that Colossae is a rather small city, but they've come to believe in Jesus. And Paul is encouraged by that. But there's a lot of other influences that have been speaking into their life. They've been saying, hey, that's great that you believe in Jesus, but you also need to do this. You need to follow the law. You need to have a certain type of spiritual experience. You need to deny yourself in certain ways. And as JP mentioned last week, the church in Colossae, they loved Jesus. They just didn't think he was enough. And this came because of all of these influences that were speaking into their life, saying, do this. Don't do this. Believe this about God. Don't believe this about God. And Paul's gonna step in here and say, don't listen to them. You've got a lot of people telling you a lot of different things. Don't follow them. Don't listen to them, because they are not your Lord. Jesus is. They're not in charge of your life. Jesus is. So don't look to them for instruction. Look to him for instruction.

I think this is gonna be helpful to us as well today, because our lives are loud. Our lives are filled with a lot of people giving us a lot of different opinions. You've got friends speaking into your life, telling you what you need to do. You've got even pastors and politicians and Instagram influencers telling you what to believe about God, what to do in your faith. You've got family members telling you what to do. You've got a lot of voices in your life. And the unfortunate reality is, those voices may have good intentions. They may not have good theology. They may have good intentions for you, but they may not have good theology. So a lesson from Paul this morning is gonna be, man, tune out all those other voices because they're not your Lord, Jesus is. And if you wanna know the truth about God, go to Jesus. If you wanna know the truth about you, go to Jesus. If you wanna know the truth about the gospel, go to Jesus. And you just need to make sure that you're not falling prey to all of these false beliefs that might sneak into your relationship with Jesus. So in the text that we're gonna be reading today, Colossians 2, verse 16, if you have your Bibles, I'd love for you to open that there. It's gonna be helpful to you. Paul is gonna correct three different false beliefs. He's gonna take them one by one,

and all of them fall into a title that ends with ism. He's correcting three isms here. And these three isms aren't just seen in the Church of Colossae, but they're actually seen all across church history and even right here in Waco, Texas today. And the three isms that he's gonna correct are legalism, mysticism, and asceticism. Legalism, mysticism, and asceticism. If you don't know what any of those words are, I'm gonna explain it as we go on. And all of those things have aspects of wisdom to them. They really do. But if you throw yourself into all three of those things or any three of those things, it's going to lead you astray. So this is what Paul is going to correct in the text today. Now, this is also gonna be one of those texts that it's gonna feel deep at times. It's gonna feel like, man, I'm not sure how this applies to me. Let's just give it some time. I'm gonna do my best to explain it and apply it to your life. So stick with me. Colossians chapter two, verse 16. Paul's writing to the church. He says this, therefore, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink

or with regard to a religious festival, a new moon celebration, or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come. The reality, however, is found in Christ. So the first ism he addresses here is legalism. Legalism. And legalism is the belief that following laws makes a person righteous or acceptable before God. If I just do all that God has asked of me, then I'll be improved in his sight. This was a belief in Colossae. If I just follow all the 613 laws in the Old Testament, then I'll be accepted by God. I'm gonna follow Jesus and the law. But here, Paul rejects that outright. And he puts the law into two different categories, diets and days. He says, do not let them judge you by what you eat or drink. In the Old Testament, specifically Leviticus 11, it lists out all sorts of food that is either clean or unclean. And you would be clean based on what you did or didn't eat. Paul says that no longer applies to you. You don't have to follow their diet. And then you also don't have to follow their days. You don't have to follow their annual festival or their monthly new moon celebration or even their weekly Sabbath day. Because you don't have to follow their diets

or their days anymore, because history changed with the death of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came, lived, died, and rose again. And because of that, everything has changed about your requirement to the law. Because we see in this text, the first word in verse 16, if you have your Bibles open, is therefore. And just a little Bible help for you, whenever you see the word therefore, you need to figure out what the word therefore is therefore. It's therefore a reason. So we need to go back. What is the therefore therefore? Well, last week, J.P. taught on this, but the verses right before this say this, verse 13. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us. He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. You see, we stood in debt to the law. We had fallen short of the requirements of the law, but since God so loved you, he sent his one and only son to live a perfect life, perfectly following all the requirements of the law, only for him to be. arrested and thrown upon a cross, and he suffered the penalty for our sins.

And as he died, he paid the price for your sins and mine, and he canceled the charge. Our debt has been paid. This is what Paul said just happened. Your debt has been paid. Therefore, do not feel like you still need to follow the law to be approved by God. Don't let anyone hold you to that. This is point number one. First thing we need to learn from this text, don't let legalism judge you. Don't let legalism judge you. He's saying these people, they're gonna expect you to do all of these things, but it would be ridiculous for you to continue to follow the law in this way. Why? Because he says in verse 17, just looking at it again, these are a shadow of the things that were to come. The reality, however, is found in Christ. You see, a shadow points to the substance. All of these laws were a shadow pointing to the substance. For example, the food laws, what you would eat or not eat would make you clean before God. Those were a shadow pointing to the substance, pointing to the bread of life, that as we consume him and receive him, that's what makes us clean. These laws were a shadow pointing to someone else.

So it would be ridiculous to embrace the shadow. For example, if my wife walked into the room and I saw her shadow, it would be foolish and embarrassing for me to try to hug her shadow on the ground. I mean, it would just be completely ridiculous. Why? Because the real thing is right here. My wife is right here. Why would you embrace the shadow when the substance is here? This is what Paul is saying. Do not follow the shadow because the substance is with you. The reality is with you. Jesus is with you. So don't fall prey to following those commands. The issue is peer pressure is powerful and their judgment of you can make you fall into following those things. Just as an example of how powerful peer pressure can be, last week, my wife and I and our two oldest girls, we went to Orlando and we spent the first two days at Disney World and then the next two nights, we moved hotels and stayed at the Gaylord Palms. I had hotel points. We got to stay there for free, which was amazing. If you don't know what a Gaylord is, it's like part hotel, part water park, part conference center.

And it was really, really nice, way nicer than where we normally stay. Earlier that week, it was going for $600 a night. So nice, nice hotel. So we're there to hang out at the pool. And the first night we check in, we realized that there's this nationwide business conference happening while we're there. And it felt like we were the only people there without a lanyard walking around. It's just us and our two girls with bubbles from Disney walking through the commons area. And so we already felt out of place, but the next morning we woke up and we're like, okay, we got to go downstairs, figure out what to eat for breakfast. And so we get our girls up and I hadn't showered yet. I throw on a hat and a t-shirt and shorts and I put my Crocs on. And then we go down to find some breakfast. And as we're walking through the hallways, my wife looks at me and she goes, Nate, you know I'm not normally like this, but I'm so embarrassed by your Crocs right now. I'm like, what do you mean? Why? She goes, Nate, look around. Everyone else is in a suit and tie. They've got their lanyard on, their laptops, their briefcase, and they're just staring at your feet.

I can't help but notice that all they notice is what you're wearing. And I'm like, you weren't embarrassed at Spring Hill Suites the two nights before. I was wearing these there too. What's the difference? Everybody else here seemed like they've got it all going on. They seem rich, they seem important, they seem like they've got their life together. And I just, don't. You're embarrassed. Here's what we got to understand. That can feel like the church. You walk into the church, you look around and go, man, everybody's got their life figured out. Their kids are wearing those clothes. She knows all the words to those songs. He looks like he's never sinned. So I got to make sure that I fit in. I got to make sure that I'm saying what they say. I've got to make sure I'm doing what they do. I need to live up to their requirements of me. This text is Paul saying, make sure that you do not fall prey to their judgment of you, but rather concern yourself with God's judgment of you. You're not following them, you're following him. So the priority is not what they think of you, but what does he think of you?

Well, how else can this look like here? In this text, he says, don't let them judge you by you not following the new moon. I doubt there's people here who are saying, I can't believe people in my life group aren't following New Moon festivals. How can this look like here? Well, this is very applicable here. And this has divided many life groups because there can be times in which we say things like, you cannot be a Christian and drink alcohol. You cannot be a Christian and send your kids to public school. You cannot be a Christian and shop at those stores. You cannot be a Christian and drive that type of car. You cannot be a Christian and wear those types of clothes. Now, there is certainly wisdom to all of those convictions that I just mentioned. But if you can't explicitly chapter and verse something in scripture, tread lightly in what you are holding others to. If it's not explicitly sin, take a step back because otherwise your heart might be full of legalism and holding them to something that is outside of scripture. You and your family may have a conviction about something, another may not. And there has to be room here for disagreement for anything that's not explicitly sin. Because we don't want to be held to legalism.

Another way this can play out here is this. In your walk with Jesus, you've got to analyze this and answer this question. Why do you do the things that you do? In your walk with Jesus, why do you do the things that you do? Whether it's reading the Bible or spending time in prayer or coming to church or going to life group, why do you do the things that you do? Well, let's just take coming to church, for example. All of you are here. Why did you come this morning? Was it because if I don't come, they'll notice? Or if I show up, it'll be good for business. If I don't make it there, other people will think of me differently. Or is it, I've got to go to church because I want to love God's word more. I want to worship God for all that he's done. Did you come for them or did you come for him? Did you read your Bible to grow in your love for God's word or did you read your Bible so you could tell other people that you read your Bible? But Paul is saying here, don't fall prey to the judgment of others. You don't live for their approval. You live from his approval. So the first thing we need to learn from this text is this. Point number one, don't let legalism judge you. Let's continue on in the text.

He takes on another topic here, verse 18. He says, do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen. They are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. They have lost connection with the head from whom the whole body, supported and held together with its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. So the first legalism, the first ism he looked at was legalism, the belief that you need Jesus plus the law. Now he goes at mysticism. Mysticism is the belief that spiritual experiences, visions or knowledge is needed to grow in your relationship with God. At its core, mysticism is the pursuit of spiritual experiences. Now there's a lot going on in this text. He says at the beginning, he says that these people delight in the worship of angels. This could look like a couple of things. This could look like them worshiping angels, elevating angels and praying to those angels, believing that if you pray to those specific angels, then that will actually be more effective than praying to Jesus, praying through Jesus. What's interesting is there are still denominations today that would teach that.

Don't go to Jesus, go to some other angelic being. Or this could have been them saying that they had a certain encounter with an angel and since they had that encounter, they really obsessed with it and they worshiped that spiritual being that they had an encounter with and they started to worship angels. And then he says, such a person goes into great detail about what they have seen. Now this can look like, hey, God told me this or I had this vision or I had this dream and they seem super spiritual, but what this text says is they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. So maybe you're sitting there going, Nate, what are you saying? Does God still appear in dreams? Can God still speak to people? Man, at Harris Creek, we believe that the Spirit of God is alive and active. We certainly believe in spiritual gifts, but here's where it can go wrong in churches and in individuals. The next verse is so important. It's important for us to understand these people, verse 19, they've lost connection with the head, meaning Jesus, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

See, when the dreams and visions and God told me is not look at God, but rather look at me, look at how important I am, look at how special I am, look at what God did to me, that person begins to say, follow me, rather than follow Christ. And you've gotta know, whenever someone says, hey, follow me and I'll give you greater spiritual insight, follow me and I'll lead you to deeper spiritual experience, that's incredibly dangerous. Because what we do is we follow Jesus and he's the one who makes us grow. He's the one that leads us into a deeper relationship with God. So he's saying here, don't follow those people who are calling you to chase an experience, rather than to chase Christ. This is point number two, second thing we need to learn from this text, don't let mysticism distract you. Don't let mysticism distract you, because the goal is to pursue Jesus, not a dream or a vision or spiritual goosebumps, because as this text says, he is what will make you grow. Now, this point is don't let mysticism distract you, it could also be don't let mysticism disqualify you. Because looking at the text, that's the word that Paul uses in verse 18. He says, don't let anyone who does this disqualify you. Now, he's not saying don't let them disqualify you before God, they couldn't do that.

The word disqualify here is like a judge or an umpire, or think like a fraternity and a sorority. They're looking at groups of people and they have decided to accept certain groups of people for some reason and disqualify other groups of people for another reason. You didn't make it in because you don't have this. Paul's saying, make sure that does not happen in regard to spiritual experiences. Now, this is what can happen in certain circles. Certain Christian circles can disqualify people if you have not had a certain type of experience. For example, just to throw one out there, there are certain groups that believe that if you speak in tongues, then you are like a varsity level believer in Jesus. And what it does is it puts people into categories. There's varsity Christians and then there's JV Christians. Here's what you need to understand. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. There is not a better Christian or a worse Christian because of a spiritual experience. There is just a Christian and non-Christian. Those are the only categories that count. You cannot be like half Christian or more Christian than someone else. You either are or you aren't. And it's certainly not dependent upon what you experience spiritually. This is what Paul's saying here.

Don't let them disqualify you or create categories. Now, is Paul's message here that spiritual experiences aren't legitimate? No. Like you read Paul's letters. He had some spiritual experiences. So is he saying spiritual experiences aren't legitimate? No. Here's what he is saying. Spiritual experiences aren't the goal. Dreams and spiritual goosebumps are amazing, but they're not what we pursue. Jesus is who we pursue, but we can eventually be led to think, if I just experienced what they did, then I'd grow. But it's not an experience that makes a person grow. It's a person that makes a person grow. Looking at the text, verse 19. They have lost connection with the head, meaning Jesus, from whom the whole body grows as God causes it to grow. You see, a connection to the head is what makes you grow spiritually. So how can you evaluate if you have potentially fallen into the mysticism trap? I think here's how you can evaluate it. Are you chasing or cherishing a spiritual experience? Are you chasing or cherishing a spiritual experience? What do I mean by that? Are you chasing, if I just experienced that,

if God just spoke to me in that way, if I just went to that conference and got to hear from that teacher, if I just went to that church and got to be led by that band, if I just got to experience that, then I would grow. And you're chasing a future experience. I believe that's gonna lead you astray. Because I believe that where we're supposed to be is not chasing an experience, but cherishing an experience. Because if you're a believer in Jesus, you have experienced the most important spiritual experience possible. That while you were in your sin, for your sake, God made him who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him, you and I might become the righteousness of God. That while we were dead in our sins, God made us alive in Christ Jesus. We went through a spiritual resurrection. And it's the most important experience you could possibly encounter, experiencing the blood of Jesus, washing your scarlet sin and making it white as snow. So are you chasing some other experience or are you cherishing that one? God so loves me that he forgave me. God brought me from death to life. I'm not chasing something else, I'm cherishing that one. In the reality, when you sit in that,

when you cherish what Jesus has done for you, man, you're gonna start to experience things frequently in your walk with Jesus. You're gonna get the spiritual goosebumps. He's gonna meet with you. But that's not the goal, because experiences are not the things that will make you grow. Pursuing Jesus is what will make you grow. So point number two, second thing we need to understand is we must not let mysticism distract you. Continuing on with the text, Paul says this, verse 20, since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why as though you still belong to the world do you submit to its rules? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. So Paul has rejected legalism, mysticism, and finally he's going to reject asceticism. Asceticism, now asceticism is the belief that harsh self-denial or physical deprivation makes a person spiritually superior. If you just don't do these things,

then you'll be mature in your faith. It's like the cousin of legalism. Legalism is do these things and then you'll be approved. Asceticism is don't do these things and then you'll be approved. Paul writes here, these people are declaring you can't have that, you can't drink that, you can't eat that, you must deny, deny, deny, and that's what will change you. Now this belief of asceticism is seen really all throughout church history, not just in Colossae, but all throughout church history. Really the best examples of that are what monks have done across church history. They believe that since they had sinful desires in their heart, they needed to restrict themselves of physical pleasure. These monks would only eat bread and salt. They would sleep on the ground, not a mattress. They wouldn't use a blanket. They would wear clothes made of scratchy animal hair. They would actually inflict self-harm on themselves if they had a lustful thought. There's a bunch of examples of this. Here's one that I learned about this week, a curious case of a man named Simeon Stylites. We've got a picture of him or a drawing. He lived on top of a pillar 50 feet from the ground for 37 years. And he did that because he believed, man,

he had sinful desires in him, therefore he should suffer. So he took on the effects of the weather. Didn't matter if it was blistering hot. Didn't matter if it was raining. Didn't matter if it was snowing. He was going to stay on top of that pillar, and he did for 37 years. People would bring a ladder to him every single day and feed him up there. Now, what he was doing was trying to be holy. He's really doing what the Colossians were beginning to believe. But Paul says things like this, these rules and regulations, they have an appearance of wisdom, but it becomes false humility, which I think is interesting because look at him here. All he could do from that pillar was look down on everyone else. I think this is what happens whenever you fall into asceticism. Oh, I don't do this, I don't do this, therefore I'm better than everyone else. And it turns into false humility or really pride. And I think him, I think he and many other people across church history had faulty thinking from the get-go because the lie of asceticism is this. Since I sinned, I should suffer, and if I suffer, then I'll be changed. That's the lie of asceticism.

The truth of the gospel is since we sinned, he suffered. And it's through his suffering that we are changed. Isaiah 53 says this, surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering. Yeah, we considered him punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted, but he was pierced for our transgressions, he was. for our iniquities, and the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds, we are healed. This is point number three. Third thing we need to understand, don't trust asceticism to change you. Don't trust asceticism to change you. Now, are we called to restrict things in our life? Absolutely, Jesus says, when you fast, he's teaching like this should be a part of your walk with Jesus. You should go without food for a time, but if when you fast, your thinking is, this is gonna be miserable, and I deserve it. Like I sinned, so I should fast, so I'd feel miserable, and it's in this suffering that I'll be changed. If that's your mindset to these types of things, you're gonna be sorely disappointed, because spiritual growth does not come from what you deny, but rather in whom you delight. Spiritual growth does not come from what you deny, but rather in whom you delight, because you do not deny yourself into change, you delight yourself in Jesus until you change,

because you don't do the changing. Verse 23 says, all this restriction and heart treatment of the body, they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. They can't change you, because they can't get to the deep places in your soul. It's just behavior management. Well, to illustrate that, yesterday I was out in my yard picking weeds. It's that type of season, and I'd just gone through, mowed parts of my yard, and I found some weeds in another, and I went down and picked up a weed, and I brought it here just to kind of show off. Yeah, freshly picked from the Hilton Camp House yesterday. I did a great job here. What's the issue? I didn't get the root. It's gonna grow back. I'm gonna pick the same thing next week. I didn't get deep enough, and as soon as I picked this, I remembered, oh yeah, JP told me about this tool, this amazing tool. It's gonna change your Father's Day, because I went and I grabbed it, found another one. Look at this thing. Yeah, I got the root. This thing ain't gonna grow back. You wanna know why? I have this, this thing, Father's Day. Buy this for your dad.

It's awesome, because you just put it in the ground. There's these prongs. You put it in the ground like this, step down like that. You pick it up, shoot it off like this, and it's gone, and it's not coming back. It's amazing. I'm telling you, Fiskars, yeah. I get 5% of every sale I try, I'm not. That has the power to keep the weeds from coming back. Why? It can go deeper than I can on my own. I can just keep picking the tops of weeds, but they're gonna keep coming back. In asceticism, if you just kind of restrict things and say, I'm not gonna do this, I'm not gonna do this, I'm not gonna do this, and then you're like, why am I still filled with lust? Why am I still filled with greed? Why do I still wanna gossip? Because it hasn't gone deep enough in your soul. Ezekiel 36, 26, God says this. I will give you a new heart. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and will give you a heart of flesh. See, he's got the tools to go in and dig out sin at the root. He will make you brand new. You see, holiness does not primarily come from you restricting sinful desires,

but rather him evicting them. Holiness does not primarily come from you restricting sinful desires, but rather him evicting them, him kicking them out, removing them and replacing them with new desires. That's what's gonna change you. So if your goal is to manage your sin and say, I'm never gonna cuss, I'm never gonna gossip, I'm never gonna lust, so I'm just gonna restrict my paths to those things, there's wisdom to that, but if you don't get to the root, you'll never be changed. This is why the passage we looked at last week, Paul said, you have been circumcised, but not with a circumcision from human hands, but rather it was a circumcision of the heart from God. Only he has the tools to go in and do heart-level surgery. So if you want to be changed, get desperate before God. Ask him to change you because you can't change you, only he does. So if you want to see spiritual growth in your life, it doesn't come from what you deny, but rather in whom you delight. And the more you delight in Jesus, the more work he'll do in your soul. So the three points, in summary, point one is don't let legalism judge you. Point number two, don't let mysticism. Point number three, don't trust asceticism to change you. And really, to summarize what Paul is saying here, he's saying, legalism says do more,

mysticism says experience more, asceticism says deny more, but the gospel says, Christ is enough. That's his message. Christ is enough. You don't need Christ and you don't need Christ in an experience, you don't need Christ in restricting, you just need Christ. Christ, and he's enough. You know, something I've learned about being a dad of three girls, I feel like every day I'm just learning a lot. And one of the things I've learned is that our house is loud. House is very loud. I get home from work, it's one of my favorite things, girls run to me and they're like, Dad, guess what we did today? We went to the park and then Callie, she fell and she scraped her knee and then we hung out with these people and then Dad, Dad, can you come play this game with me? And Dad, we got this other book from the library today. Dad, can we do this? Can we do this? Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad. I love, but then there are times when I just gotta talk to Adelie. Like there's something where I just, I need to talk to my wife about something.

And there are many times we're trying to have a discussion, I can't even hear what she's saying because my kids are just going, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad. Guess what, guess what, look at this, look at this. Dad, look at me, look at me, watch this dance, look, look. And there are times when I just have to open up the back door and say, go play. Get outside. Take 10 minutes, go run around in circles. I don't care what you do. I shut the door and then I go, okay, Adelie, I can hear you now. What do you wanna say to me? You're the one I want to hear from. Our lives are loud. You are surrounded by voices all the time, whether it's people in your life, whether it's people you don't even know, but you pull up Instagram or TikTok, they're speaking at you, they're telling you, this is what you should believe about God, this is what you should believe about the scripture, you need to do this, you need to don't do this, you need to follow all these certain rules. There are times in your life when you just gotta open up the back door and say, get out of here. I don't care if you've got good intentions, you may not have good theology. So I wanna hear from the one whom I love. You gotta get with Jesus, you gotta get in his word

and be like, okay, what does he actually say? What does the gospel actually say about my God? What does the gospel actually say about who I am? What does the gospel actually say about what I should do in this decision? You gotta evict all those other voices and hear from the one who's gonna lead you to a path of peace. That's what Paul was telling the church in Colossae to do. I believe that that's what the word of God is telling us to do today as well. Stop focusing on what everyone else says and get to know what Jesus has said through his word. And when you do, I think you'll know him better, you'll understand who you are more and you'll start to experience a life that's life to the full. Let me pray that we'd hear him today. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your word. Every verse, every word, every chapter, it was all written. To correct and rebuke, train and instruct us so that we could live in a righteous way. And God, I do pray that you would correct any false belief, whether big or little in our life. I pray that through the power of your Holy Spirit, you just evict them from our heart and so that we would know the true you, the real you, so that we can know who we really are in light of who you really are. And God, I pray that we would learn

to silence the voices in our life, whether it's on our phone, whether it's our friends, people at work, people who are speaking a lot of opinions. God, we don't just want opinions, we want the truth of God's word. So would we be people who are desperate to get with you, to hear from you in your word every single day and would the truth of your word change who we are, change how we view you and change the way we live our lives? So Father, would we not believe the lie that we need Jesus and the law or Jesus and an experience or Jesus and restriction, but would we just want Jesus? Would we get back to the heart of it all, that we just want to worship the God that saw us in our sin and he picked us up, cleaned us off and gave us a brand new life. We have a hope and a future because of what you did through the gospel. So would everything else fade and would we get to the heart of what matters most? Father, we love you, we want to worship you because of the fact that Jesus is alive. In His name we pray, amen.