1 Corinthians 3:10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

Every attack from dark forces have cited the abuses of the churches that did not heed Paul’s warning. Ruthless men of ambition have used the bible to enslave men into answering to their evil design. Whole countries have been ruled by binding men to false doctrines and building an army that was not of God. All you have to do is be a student of history to recognize that abuses have existed in nearly every decade of the church age.

Romans 11:5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

Isaiah 1:9 Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

Revelation 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Our enemy has been trying to destroy us time upon time but God has saved a remnant out of every generation that hold true to His Word.

Is there still great deception in this world? Has there come upon us a newer and more convincing deception? Will there come even greater deceptions that lead to even more vile abuses?

2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

I am determined to be of the remnant and not of those who fall away.

The son of perdition has not been revealed.

Yet.

Colossians 1:25-29 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

Paul was always a zealot for God. His studies under Gamaliel had a distinct purpose for his conversion. No one could have argued against Paul’s knowledge of the Old Testament in the first century synagogues. He showed them Jesus Christ in the scriptures. God used who Saul was to create Paul and we can see that in how he was used. That does not however explain this dispensation Paul refers to here in the first chapter of Colossians.

A “dispensation” is not a period or epoch (a common, but erroneous, use of the word), but a mode of dealing, an arrangement, or administration of affairs. Cp. oikonomos, “a steward,” and oikonomeo, “to be a steward.” Source; Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.

A steward is a trusted member of a household who is given the responsibility to oversee the everyday operations or administrations of the affairs of a house. There is no sense of ownership, only duty. This responsibility is expanded within the context of the mystery revealed, Christ in you. You are the temple of God, and Paul’s administration extends from the first century church to our present day church.

Paul was put in charge of administration of the church age. His epistles lay out how we should operate together.

1 Corinthians 3:10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.