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It Revolves Around Christ – Creator

Posted on by chgruver

In our journey through Colossians last week we looked at Paul’s prayer for the Colossian believers. This week we look at what Paul has to tell these believers right off the bat regarding their relationship with Christ. The false teachers were all pointing out other things that the believers needed to focus on to obtain salvation or reach a point of spiritual maturity; Paul comes out and states all you need is Christ. In fact Paul goes so far as to say that Christ is the center of it all. We see his words in Colossians 1:15-20 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together. He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross— whether things on earth or things in heaven.”

Creator

The first thing Paul points out to the Colossian church is that Christ is Creator. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together.” The first thing Paul states in these three verses is that Christ was firstborn over all creation. What this means is that Christ preceded and takes importance over creation, not that he was created. In other words Paul explains to the Colossian church that Christ was God in the flesh, and His presence allowed us to see the essence of who God the Father is.

The second thing Paul points out regarding Christ and creation is that not only did Christ precede creation but He is the one who created. One way to look at this is that Christ is firstborn because He created all things. Not only did He create all things but He did so with a plan and purpose. Paul is stating that you have false teachers stating that the material world is evil, but Christ created it good and even if we see things that we regard as evil God ultimately uses it for His purposes.

The final thing Paul points out regarding creation is that Christ holds all things together. He is in control because He is firstborn over all creation, and all things were created in Him. What this means is when you look at the world today and all the chaos and uncertainty as believers we have no need to worry, because Christ is in control. The United Kingdom left the European Union, whether you were for it or against it remember Christ is in control. Don’t know who to vote for regarding the US presidential race, remember no matter who is elected God is in control. This is a ray of hope no matter what dark times we may face, God is always in control, we may never understand the reasons why something happens but God has a plan that will always happen. This is why we can place our trust and hope in Him.

Prayer of Brotherhood – Salvation

Posted on by chgruver

So we have been looking at Paul’s prayer regarding the Colossian church as found in Colossians 1:9-14 and last time we ended with how as believers they should be giving thanks to God when strengthened for endurance and patience. Paul also goes on to mention other reasons that as a believer we should be giving thanks. If you look at Colossians 1:13-14, “He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him.” Paul points out four things that as believers we should be thankful for besides being enabled to share in the inheritance that we will receive as believers, we were rescued, transferred, redeemed, and forgiven.

Rescued

The first thing Paul mentions is that God rescued us from the domain of darkness, meaning we were once held captive or as prisoners to sin and God came down and freed us. If we were in physical bondage and captivity we would surely be grateful to the person who came and rescued us from our situation, well spiritually that is exactly what God did. We were at one time in a position, spiritually, where sin and darkness were in control of our lives. Before we came to Christ sin was what ruled in our lives, if we happened to do anything “good” it was because it benefited our sinful desires. However, Christ came down and removed the power sin had over us to where no longer are we controlled by our sinful desires.

Transferred

The next thing Paul mentions is that after we were rescued we were transferred to Christ’s Kingdom. You see he did not just free us from sin and leave us to wander around. We were transplanted from one kingdom to another, we went from slaves under sin to citizens in the Kingdom of God. We were rescued from our sinful desires and placed under the Lordship of one who requires us to do good. When Christ removed the power sin had over us we were given the Holy Spirit who urges us to follow God’s will.

Redeemed

It is not just that we were rescued from Satan’s power and became citizens of God’s kingdom but Christ has also redeemed us. What this means is that we were bought for a price, the word used here was that of paying a ransom. When sin entered into the world with Adam, we were taken captive; and when Christ died on the cross the ransom was paid to where God was able to bring us back into His kingdom. We were bought at a price to which we are no longer for sale. When we were redeemed by Christ the sale was final.

Forgiven

Finally we should be thankful because our sins are forgiven, which goes hand in hand with redemption. Look at in the way of when people would go into slavery due to large debts, because of sin we had an unpayable debt and thus became slaves to sin. Christ came and redeemed us, bought us from the slavery to sin, and then forgave us, payed off or canceled our debt. You see we should be thankful to God because of our salvation, as not only does God make it possible for us, but He is the one who saves us. We cannot do it on our own, only God had the power to bring us salvation.

Prayer of Brotherhood – Endurance and Patience

Posted on by chgruver

This week we are looking at Paul’s prayer for the Colossian church and that they work to grow spiritually. Last time we saw the first aspect of spiritual growth being related to seeking God and knowledge of His will. Today we will look at how when growing spiritually we need to focus on endurance and patience. In Colossians 1:11-12 we see, “May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.”

Endurance and Patience

Paul prays that the Colossian church will be strengthened by God so they can exhibit endurance and patience. The purpose behind this is when you start to live out your faith you are bound to encounter trials and persecution, Paul understood this and prayed that God would give the Colossian church the strength to stand in such time. It is far too easy when times get tough because of our faith to take a step back and tone down our beliefs, but that actually hinders us. Growing spiritually is much like growing physically, when we grow physically we often encounter growing pains as we mature, growing spiritually is much the same we have to encounter the trials and tribulations in order to grow.

The need for endurance and patience is not just because of our own spiritual growth but also as we are shaped into the men God wants us to be. The trials and hardships are not just growing pains but also serve as a means to make you useful in doing God’s will. If you have ever seen the method that Native Americans used to use when making arrowheads they would take basically two stones and use one to chip away bits and pieces of the softer stone until an arrowhead was formed. The trials and hardships that we face where we are needing to have endurance and patience do much the same. They shape us and form us into until we are a tool useful for God’s purpose, then like sharpening a knife it is a process that keeps us useful. The thing to remember is that all believers face this, we are never told we will have an easy life as a Christian, that is why Paul prays for believers to be strengthened for endurance and patience, as trials and hardships are almost guaranteed to the believer.

Give Thanks

As we are strengthened to be able to exhibit patience and endurance giving thanks to God should naturally flow out from that.  When you think about it when we were children we all wanted to grow, we would get excited about a mere fraction of an inch of growth; and we will celebrate each year as we get a year older. It is only natural that we should exhibit the same we have regarding physical growth when we see the evidence of our own spiritual growth. You see we are not giving thanks because we are facing the trials and hardships themselves, but rather we are giving thanks because it means we are growing in our faith.

Giving thanks is not just because of the evidence of our growth but also because we are saved. We give t hanks because we will take part in the inheritance that fellow believers will share in. The reason we are to give thanks to God is because He is the one that makes us able to share in the inheritance, it is not by anything we have done or could ever do; but it is all because of God’s mercy and grace. Next time we will look further into other reasons we should be giving thanks to God as Paul points out to the Colossian church.

Prayer of Brotherhood – God’s Will

Posted on by chgruver

A couple of weeks ago we started to look at the book of Colossians and have been going through it verse by verse. We took a look at the city of Colossae as well as the church located there. Then last week we looked at how Paul reacted to learning about this church that started as part of the fruit of his ministry in Ephesus. This week we start to look at his specific prayer for the church in Colossae. This prayer is one that specifically geared towards wanting to see the Colossian church grow spiritually. This prayer in fact is a prayer that we as believers should have regarding each other, as brothers in Christ we should have a desire to see each other grow spiritually. So what is this prayer? In Colossians 1:9-14 we see, “For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him.” Today we are going to look at the first two verses of this section, “For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.”

Knowledge of His Will

The first thing that Paul prays for regarding the Colossian church is that they will be filled with the knowledge of God’s will. Remember this was a church that was facing false teachers that claimed there was a hidden knowledge that one needed to find, Paul is stating that God is willing to impart knowledge of His will on the believers. God’s will is not an Easter egg that is hidden in which you need to go searching for, no it is clearly revealed to us in His Word; all we need to do is seek to draw near to God, place our focus on Him and His will is revealed to us.

Walk Worthy of the Lord

It is not just enough to know God’s will it also needs to be applied. When Paul states that he prays that the Colossian church will be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, he is essentially saying he prays that it becomes a controlling influence in their lives. As we focus more on God and His will we should naturally find ourselves wanting to “walk worthy of the Lord.” This means we will continue to grow in our knowledge of God, as we can never know everything there is to know, and do good works, as they are an outpouring of our faith. You see the first step of spiritual growth is learning more about God and His will as well as being obedient as we find ourselves wanting to do God’s will as we further seek to learn more about God and His will.

A Friend of a Friend – What Must Be Done

Posted on by chgruver

In looking at Colossians 1:3-8 we have seen that Paul has heard about this young church that came out of the fruit of his ministry in Ephesus, and reminds them of the source of their hope. Today we will see what Paul points out as what should be done with that hope. In Colossians 1:6-8 we see, “It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognized God’s grace in the truth. You learned this from Epaphras, our dearly loved fellow slave. He is a faithful servant of the Messiah on your behalf, and he has told us about your love in the Spirit.” Paul now goes and starts telling the Colossian church the purpose of the Gospel.

Bearing Fruit

He starts out with telling them that the Gospel is bearing fruit and growing all over the world. Essentially Paul is stating that the Gospel is to continue to be spread, they heard the Gospel from someone and in turn they should be sharing the Gospel with others. Paul does this by telling the Colossians that it was not just them that found their hope through the Gospel but that the Gospel is for all people in all places. He was essentially stating that it was not just them that will find salvation in the message of the Gospel, but that they should be willing to spread it so that it would continue to bear its fruit.

Seed Planted

This point was driven home by Paul indicating that the seed that bore the spiritual fruit found in the Colossian church was planted by Epaphras. This was not one of the apostles, a missionary, or even some full time minister; this was just a fellow Colossian that heard the message and came to faith while he was probably visiting Ephasus. God used an ordinary man for His extraordinary purpose. As mentioned in the Great Commission we may not all be evangelists, but as Christians we are all to go and spread the Gospel around the world.

What’s The Fruit

So what is the fruit that is growing all over the world that Paul is talking about. It is those that have given their life to Christ. As mentioned they recognized God’s grace in the Gospel and gave their hearts over to it. On exposure to the Gospel message they had a stirring in their hearts as a result of the Holy Spirit drawing them to God that let them see this great gift that is offered to them, which they did not deserve. That is exactly what grace is, receiving something which you do not deserve; on the other side of the same coin is mercy, which is not receiving something you do deserve. You see through mercy we do not receive the punishment of death that we deserve due to sin and through God’s grace we receive life; not because of anything we did but because of Christ and what He did for us in His love. This is what Paul is doing right off the bat, he is reminding the Colossian church of the Gospel message, the message that led them to faith. He is reminding them of God’s grace and mercy as this needs to be first and foremost in their minds, especially when he starts to counter the false teachings that the church is dealing with.

A Friend of a Friend – What You Heard

Posted on by chgruver

So we started looking at Colossians and this week we are looking at Colossians 1:3-8. Last time we looked at how Paul is thankful to God because of what he has heard regarding this young church. Today we will look at  what Paul states they have heard that is the basis for their faith. Colossians 1:5, “You have already heard about this hope in the message of truth, the gospel that has come to you.” Paul had just gotten finished telling them that he had heard of their faith and love which resulted from their hope. He now goes to tell them where they got their hope from and the reason it is reliable.

The Promise To Come

Paul is reminding them that their hope, this assurance of a promise to come, is contained within the message they have already received. It is not found in some secret revelation, or through some mystic experience. It is also not obtained through some strict adherence to a set of rules. Paul boldly states that to understand the hope that is reserved for them in heaven all they need to do is to look at the message they received through faith. The Colossian church has all these people coming in trying to say that receiving the Gospel is a good start but to truly be a Christian they need to follow a certain set of rules, or obtain some secret knowledge that hasn’t been revealed to them. Right here at the start Paul reminds them that the Gospel is all they need, it is the source of their hope.

The Truth Is The Truth

There is a reason that Paul refers to the Gospel as the message of truth, that is because no matter what the popular opinion is the truth will always be the truth. Paul was telling the Colossian church that no matter how popular the false teachings are, how appealing they may be, or how easy it would be to just go with the flow, the Gospel is the truth and only message that leads to salvation. In our own lives when we encounter various teachings we should always test them against Scripture to see whether they are false teachings or sound teaching. Paul is stating that no matter who is teaching or what the message is it should line up with the Gospel, anything else will draw you away from Christ.

So Paul is telling the Colossian church that they came to a saving faith in Christ through the message of the Gospel that they had received. This message was the truth and there is no hidden knowledge or mystical experience that is further required to obtain salvation, nor is there any special set of rules that they must perfectly follow. We need to remember the same thing, our faith is not about anything other than our relationship with Christ. If we are told that in order to be saved we need to do anything that takes our focus off of Christ we should steer clear of it; as our faith should have us constantly seeking Him, not some hidden knowledge or special experience, and not some set of rules.

A Friend of a Friend – What We Have Heard

Posted on by chgruver

In looking at the book of Colossians, after Paul gives his customary greeting he goes into praising God about what he has learned regarding this young church. He starts off in Colossians 1:3-8 with saying, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about this hope in the message of truth, the gospel that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognized God’s grace in the truth. You learned this from Epaphras, our dearly loved fellow slave. He is a faithful servant of the Messiah on your behalf, and he has told us about your love in the Spirit.” You see as I mentioned last week this church was not one that Paul had directly founded, his relationship would be similar to developing a close friendship after being introduced through a mutual friendship.

Fruit of Discipleship

The first thing to take notice of is Paul states that he is thankful to God when he is praying for the Colossian church. Why is that you may ask? Well it shows Paul understands what it means to be a true disciple, to truly be growing in one’s faith. Paul may not have started the church in Colossae but it was started most likely due to his ministry. Paul understood that while not every believer may be an evangelist, it is the duty of all believers to spread the Gospel. So hearing about how some who came to faith after hearing the Gospel through him have led others to faith, which eventually led to the founding of other churches in other cities and villages, Paul cannot help but to be thankful that they get it. Paul is thankful not only because of the church and it being founded, but that the believers realize it is not just the job of the pastor, elders, or even a missionary to spread the Gospel; but that it is the job of all believers. Paul is thankful that seeing his three years in Ephesus did not just result in one church being founded but many churches through the region being founded through the fruit of discipleship.

Why We Heard

Paul goes on to tell the church what he has been told about them, “for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints because of the hope reserved for you in heaven.” In 1 Corinthians 13:13 Paul mentions three characteristics of a Christian that will never disappear, those three characteristics he has heard of being found in the Colossian church, faith, hope, and love. The first thing Paul mentions that he heard about them was their faith in Christ. This was the common ground that they held and is one that all believers share, we may have different views regarding doctrine, but we all agree on the major issues. Paul isn’t saying that they just heard about Christ or have incorporated aspects of the Christian faith into their belief system, but that they have whole heartedly left their old ways behind and are placing their sole focus on God.

The next thing Paul expresses thankfulness regarding the Colossian church is their love, which is a progression from their faith. You see one of the evidences of our faith is our love for others, which it is through this love that we are compelled to do good works. This is counter to what false teachers were telling the Colossian church, they were claiming that obedience to rules, obtaining a secret knowledge, or having special experiences were the evidence. The love the Colossian church was not just shown to those that they agreed with, it was to all the saints. This meant that even if their beliefs were slightly different on minor issues, those that do not affect one’s salvation, they still showed them love as fellow believers in Christ. There are too many examples of Christian brothers fighting over small issues rather than being in fellowship due to their common beliefs.

Paul then goes on to state his thankfulness due to their hope. Today we have cheapened the definition of many words such as love and faith; but what the Bible refers to as hope and how we view hope today are completely different. We see hope as often wishful thinking, “I hope I get a new car,” or “I hope I can make my rent this month.” Hope in the Bible is something more concrete than that, it is a looking forward to the assured promises that will be fulfilled. The Colossian church loved their fellow believer because of their hope in the life to come. They realized that even if they have different opinions on certain things they will all be together in heaven with God and that is all that matters.

Welcome to Colossae – The Problem

Posted on by chgruver

Last time we ended by talking about the unity of the believer and how it was because of this brotherhood that Paul felt it necessary to address the issues he heard the Colossian church was facing. So what were the issues he addressed, why was the letter to the Colossian church written? The issue that the Colossian church was facing was a mixture between Eastern philosophy and Jewish legalism.

Eastern Philosophy

The first part of the issue came from a concept that eventually became known as Gnosticism, this concept was that there was a special wisdom and knowledge that would only be achieved through spiritual perfection; and once one achieved this wisdom they were released from the earthly and material things. It came out of the philosophical question of “why is there evil in the world if creation was made by a holy God?” This question led to the belief among eastern philosophers that matter  was evil and as such God could not come in direct contact with evil matter. They also held a belief that angelic beings ruled the heavenly bodies and influenced the affairs on earth.

Jewish Legalism

Eastern philosophy was not the only issue that the church faced as Jewish legalism was also thrown into the mix. The concept of circumcision was believed to be helpful in one’s spiritual development as well as following the Old Testament Law, especially the dietary laws. This provided rigid rules and regulations that defined what was evil and what was good. The combination of these two led to the view that since material world was evil, a way was needed to control one’s human nature to pursue perfection. This resulted in either a strict legalistic view with rigid discipline or the view that since matter is evil all things are permissible; the Colossians more than likely drifted towards the more legalistic end of the spectrum.

The Issue

With the combining of beliefs that were found in the area the foundation of the Christian faith was being undermined. They attacked the person and work of Jesus Christ. They made a belief structure that had something for everybody by taking bits and pieces of Jewish legalism, Oriental philosophy, pagan astrology, mysticism, asceticism, and even Christianity. This is an issue that is even seen today. With the concept that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere, or the mixing in of eastern/new age philosophies and practices with the Christian faith. They took the view that “God is far away, matter is evil, and demonic forces are constantly threatening us;” where the Christian faith is that God is near us, God made all things good, and Christ has delivered His people from the powers of darkness. It was a heresy that tried to change people from the outside in, where spiritual growth happens from the inside out.

Welcome to Colossae -The Church

Posted on by chgruver

Last time we started our look at the book of Colossians by talking briefly about the author and the city of Colossae itself. Today I want to focus more on the intended audience of the letter by looking at the church in Colossae. Again looking at the first two verses in Colossians we read, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Timothy our brother: To the saints in Christ at Colossae, who are faithful brothers. Grace to you and peace from God our Father.”

The Church Itself

The first thing is to take a little background look at the Colossian church itself. This was a church that would have never been mentioned in the Net Testament if this letter was never written. That is because this was a church that Paul did not start nor even visit, instead Paul heard of their faith. This was a church that had more than likely started due to Paul’s ministry in Ephesus, in which the Gospel went out through all of Asia from there. It was probably in Ephesus that Epaphras and Philemon came to faith in Christ. These were two ordinary guys which God used to start ministries and churches in the three cities of Colossae, Laodecia, and Hierapolis. As with the city itself the church was predominately Gentile with a diverse background which probably led to some of the issues Paul deals with in the letter. Now in looking at Paul’s greeting we also see three things about the church that he reminds them of.

Saints

The first thing Paul tells the Colossian church is that they are saints, or that they are holy. This is a familiar address Paul uses in his letters to the churches, Galatians and 1 & 2 Thessalonians are the exception. The concept of a saint in Paul’s day was not how we view a saint today. Today when we think of a saint we think of a dead person that the Catholic church has granted the status of sainthood to after meeting a certain set of criteria. To Paul a saint was someone set aside for God’s purpose, or in other words a believer. You see it is not anything they did that made them saints, but it is all what God did; as it was through Christ that God made them, and makes us, holy.

Faithful

The next thing Paul states about the church is that they were faithful. You have to remember this was a church that started through hearing from others that more than likely brought the Gospel to Colossae after hearing it while in Ephesus, yet they held fast to their faith. In fact Paul later expresses praise in hearing about their faith. This was a young church started by regular ordinary people, no apostles, missionaries, or pastors started it, and when they faced an issue Epaphras probably told the church that they should seek advice from Paul on the issue. Rather than stray they sought out godly counsel to help correct wrong teachings that were trying to creep their way in.

Brothers

Finally Paul called the church in Colossae brothers. This demonstrates the unity that is shared among believers, we are all part of a family and as such work together. This sense of unity shows that we are not supposed to go at it alone, instead we should be willing to help each other out in times of need. I have often heard with some branches of the military the concept of “no man left behind,” as Christians we should have a similar concept that we should not allow each other to fall. We should encourage and life each other up, pray for each other, and when one of us falls we should be willing to help bring them back to Christ. The unity of the believer, the brotherhood of faith, means we should be willing to help and protect each other from falling into the grasp of the enemy. Paul exhibits this concept in that he doesn’t leave the Colossian church to their own devices, which he had no direct ties to the church to warrant his involvement, but because they were fellow believers that was the only reason needed for Paul to step in to address the issues that they were facing. So what were these issues? Well we will look at that next time.

Welcome to Colossae – The City

Posted on by chgruver

This week after taking about a month’s break we are going to start looking at the book of Colossians. The thing is before we start to dig into the book we should do a little bit of background on the book. This way as we start to look at what Paul has written we can understand why Paul says what he did which in turn helps us apply the truths to our lives today. The letter to the Colossians starts out like this, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Timothy our brother: To the saints in Christ at Colossae, who are faithful brothers. Grace to you and peace from God our Father (Colossians 1:1-2).” So in setting up the background we see two clear things, the author and the audience.

The Author

The first thing to notice is that it is Paul who wrote the letter. This is considered to be one of his prison letters, and was more than likely written while he was a prisoner in Rome. This letter along with the ones to the Ephesians, Philippians, and Philemon were written among the same time frame, with the letters to the Colossians and Philemon mentioning many of the same people and carried by the same messenger. This letter is unique in that it is one of the few letters Paul wrote to a church he had not started or even visited, but he still felt the need to write them to encourage them as well as to correct false teachings.

The Audience

We also see that this letter was written to the church in Colossae, which we will look at the church closer next time; but it does help to understand some about the city as it will help us to understand both the church and Paul’s reason for writing to them. The city of Colossae was one of three cities located in what was considered Asia Minor in the Lycus River Valley. While it was a prominent city when the Greeks ruled the area, by Paul’s time it became more of a small town, with a main road between Ephesus and the east running through the area. This probably helped lead to the diversity that would have been seen in both the city and the church. This also meant that it was a prime area for all kinds of philosophies and religions to mingle and essentially breed to form new sets of beliefs.

Does this landscape sound familiar? At least to me it sounds much like the religious landscape of many post-Christian nations, America included. There are those that look at the different philosophies and religions and take those teachings and practices that they find enjoyable and apply them to their life. They create their own hybrid religion that is appealing to them and may outwardly sound good; but in reality it is nothing but empty promises that lead people away from Christ. So now that we have seen what the city of Colossae looks like next time we will look deeper at the church that was located there.