Colossians Lesson 15 Week 2
Colossians · Courtney Hemenway · Sep 21, 2014
Colossians (2014), No. 37
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926441127727

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

All right, we are on lesson 15, going over Colossians verses 1 through 3. We're just handed out a supplemental, and that's so we can pick up verse 4. They all fit together. Again, we'll look at that as we get down into verse 4. But all these verses fit together, so we threw that in. And then also, in the back, there is lesson 16. So, as we get through this lesson, you can pick up lesson 16.

Again, Colossians 3, verses 1 through 3. Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things that are on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. So those are the 1 through 3. We got through questions 1 and 2 last week. And now we're in, we'll start with question three. What other truths does a believer need to enter into before they can understand being raised with Christ? What other truths? We need to know we were crucified. Crucified? What else? Well that's what we're talking about, the raising. So, what before?

Crucifixion and resurrection. Burial. I don't know what I'm saying. I'm hearing little whispers over here that they're afraid to say above. Yes, Erica? Burial. Oh, death, burial. Oh, burial. Amazing. That's where we're going to get to. What do you need to know before that? Death and burial? Our co-crucifixion. Those are all the things you need to know, because how do you know if you're raised? You're raised from what? Death. You've been separated. There's the death first, and then raised.

And we'll get into a lot of verses now. And we'll look at, there's first death, and then there's life. I think we ought to think about that even with the seed. We're in the analogy with the seed. The seed has got to die before there's life. I mean, there's all these analogies. Death first, then life.

And if we look at Colossians 2.20 and then 3.1.

So 2.20 is where it begins. And remember I told you this is all one letter. We divide it up into chapters and verses and all this, but this is one letter from Paul. So, it begins in 2.20, if you have died with Christ, and is that a iffy if? Since, first class conditional. Since you have died with Christ, to the elementary principles of the world, why as if you were living in the world do you submit yourself to decrees?

And then after you have death, then you have life, which is expressed in Colossians 3.1. Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, life, Okay? So, death first, then life. Is there anywhere else in scripture where it talks about that? Death first, then life? Can you think of verses that express this? Is this an important topic? Yes, no, maybe? Kind of need to know this? Maybe, sorta, kinda? I think it's basic. Basic. Basic. Any other verses? If it's basic, any other verses you can think of? Romans 6. Okay, and I have that. So, Romans 6, 8 through 11.

Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we also shall live with Him. What do you think? Death first, then life. Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again, death no longer is master over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life that he lives, he lives to God. Even so, consider or reckon yourselves to be dead to sin, and what? But alive to God in Christ Jesus. Two times in there. Death first, then life.

How about Galatians 2.20? I'll be crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ will redeem me. I don't even need to read these. You got them. That's right.

So, I have been crucified with Christ, where we talked about death, crucifixion, and it is no longer I live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by what? Faith. Remember that? I hit that real hard in question two about faith. That is our battle right now, is faith. Nothing else. Believe what is true about you, what is told about you in the Word. Faith. Believe it. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me." Okay? Death first, then life. 2 Timothy 2, 11-13.

For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him. If we endure, we also will reign with Him. If we deny Him, He will deny us. If we are faithless, this is what I like, He remains faithful. for he cannot deny himself." Again, when we don't have the faith, he still is faithful. The truths that we know about ourselves remain. Whether we believe it or not, or know it or not, those truths remain. He remains faithful about those truths.

So, with so many references to our dying with Christ and being raised up with Christ, the identification of Jesus, do you think this is important to us? When there's so many references that Paul, and that could have gone on, about death first, then life. Again, are these present, past, or future? When we reference that. Present. Present. I think it's all three. Yes.

D. D, all of both? But the thing is, the person's operating now in the present. Okay, what about death? Is that past, present, or future? I think it has an ongoing adult problem. One of those kinds of things. So that would be what we call eris tense, which means?

So you don't, you know, spring back. The old man doesn't spring back to life. Okay. If he's dead, yes, yeah. So is that a past action? Isn't it all three? Well, let's talk about death. We're getting into more questions on this too, so we're going to pound you on this. Death was a past when we believed. Say it again? Death became a past act when we believed. Okay. But we still enjoy the benefits. Right, okay. So a past action. And we'll get into that, whether you're dying or dead. That'll be a question later. Okay, what about You have been raised up. Past, present, or future? Past. Past. We have a past. Any presents or futures?

Well, we're still raised. Yes. We're not still being raised, but we still have that stance. Okay. So, I would say that was more an heiress tense. Past completed action with Abiding results. That's perfect. Is that perfect? Yeah, but that, yeah. Let me, I got it down here. Yeah. Somewhere. Present. Yeah. Impaired. Where did I have it? So that, yeah, that one's perfect, which is, yeah. So, let me get back to where my question is now. Okay. So, are those, those are things that are true about us now. Correct? We have died and we have been raised. Correct? Death and life. We have life now. We don't have to wait until we step into eternity to have this life.

That's the key. past things that have happened to you, that are true about you right now. Whether you believe it or not, I mean once you believe and are a believer, these things are true of you. Regardless, and remember I said about whether we're faithless or he always remains faithful, this is true about you whether we know it or whether we believe it or not, it is true about you. And it's a key, death and then life.

And again, the abiding results for us today is life. And we're going to touch on that again about what that means with life. And whether that's now, later, and that's where I want to hit on these verses, and that's why I've included verse 4. That's our future. And then we're going to get into verses today to talk about the present.

The crucified and the raising up are past. Those are actions that are past, done, with abiding results. Okay? I wanted to point out that I think you need to distinguish between position and condition here. I'm united to Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection with abiding results positionally. conditionally it may be playing out in my life, it may not be. Right.

And we'll get into those more in the other verses about position and condition. And we all remember what position means? What is position? Standing in state. Standing in state. That's the old brethren. So what does position mean? Who we are in Christ. Who I am in Christ. But what is the action or the position.

Position is permanent. Permanent. True. Never to change. Position never changes. You know, and you go to those 33 things that Louis Barry Chafer put together and then whoever puts it, 215 things that are true of you the instant you believe. All those things are true and cannot be changed.

Condition is what? It can change. It can change. We hope that our condition will start matching our position as we grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That our condition will start matching more of our position. But condition can go up and down, left and right. Who are we listening to? Are we walking in the flesh or walking in the spirit? up and down and all around conditioned. So, we'll get into that.

So, what Mike was talking about is position. Those are positional truths about our death and resurrection position. It can't be changed. Our death, finalized. Our resurrection, finalized. We have new life in Him. So, with that resurrection, let's look at question four. Where is one risen with Christ to set their affections? Things above. Things above. Okay? Verses 1 and 2.

Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on the things that are on earth. So what does that mean? You're only supposed to watch Christian television? Only Christian music?

No, that's an imposition. A think position? No, we need to think position. Think position. Oh, I like that. So, set your mind on things above. So we're thinking of our position? So what does that mean? I'm thinking I'm positioned. Are you questioning it? What? Are you questioning your position? No, I wouldn't question it.

I mean, we're supposed to set our minds on things above. So what does that mean? Are we looking at the kutubahs in heaven? The paintings on the wall? The streets of gold? It's to see on a day to day from a position of receiving. Okay, day to day. Instead of seeing things through our condition, we should see things through our position. We also don't know a lot about the heavenly scene, except that Christ is there, and the Father. So, He is the one in the 7th section of the Bible. He. Ooh. Ooh. A person. He. Okay? So, it's not the beautiful place we're going to be sitting someday in the heavenlies. Right?

Set your things on things above. So, First, there's a general reference. It says, first seek things above in verse 1 and not on things that are on the earth, verse 2. Then, in verse 2, set your mind on things above. That's a general reference. Okay? Is there a specific reference? In verse 3. Verse 3, which is? For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Okay. So, let's go back to verse 1. Set your mind on things above, so that's a general reference, but being more specific. Josiah hit it, but it's actually said in this verse. What's it say? Verse 1.

Where Christ is seated. Where Christ is seated. Where's our focus? Christ, where Christ is seated. That's where the things above. The general reference is things above, in the heavenlies. The specific is where Christ is. So we're not only to set our minds on things above, but we're supposed to, as Josiah and Marie now, both, it's on Christ. That's the things above. It's not just, you know, the streets of gold and the abode where, you know, manly mansions and this and that.

It's Christ. Christ. Yes, Wanda. You don't have to whisper. The streets of gold. Would you explain? No, in Revelation it only refers to one streak of gold and that's in the New Jerusalem, that's not heaven. Right, actually there are, you know, and I think in the references too, it's even like gold is translucent, it's so pure it's translucent, and there are things.

Actually I remember that, what, Vern's joke a couple weeks ago, the guy who went to heaven, The rich man, did you remember that one? He wanted to carry, he's a rich man and he just had to bring something into heaven. Had to bring it into heaven. You don't bring anything into heaven. You can't bring it. Okay, we'll let you.

So he shows up at the pearly gate with a briefcase. And he goes in and Peter's there at the pearly gates. What's that? Nobody had, everybody in line. Nope, you're the only guy with a briefcase. What are you doing? And so he goes and said, well, I said I could bring this. Really? Okay, sure. Okay, well let's open this up. He opens it up and it's gold bricks. Peter's like, why are you bringing paving stones? That was a burn. That was a few weeks ago.

Anyway, so our minds are supposed to be focused on Christ. That's now. This is the present. Set your mind and we'll get on set and seek. That's a present tense. Past tense was death and resurrection. Now it's present. These things are seek, set. I'm just thinking I'm going home this afternoon and I'm going to go in my room and shut the door and I'm going to sit there. Spiritual formulation. Empty your mind. Mm-hmm. Is that how I do it? No. How do I do it? If you're in contemplative prayer or spiritual formulation. Yes. Eastern mysticism where you meditate, you clean your mind. I'm serious.

If I come to this class and I think, okay, he sounds right to me. How did he do it? And we'll get into a little bit of that in the seek. Seek and set. But isn't it if you believe then it's in you? It's an automatic thing. You set your things above. You shouldn't have to force yourself to go into a room and think about it. That's what you automatically do if Christ is in you. I do not believe it's automatic. I think we have to concentrate on it.

We have to fill our minds with God's Word. John MacArthur wrote in his study Bible, the set your minds can also be translated think or have this inner disposition. As a compass points north, the believer's entire disposition should point itself toward the things of heaven. Heavenly thoughts can only come by understanding heavenly realities from scripture. I think that's what we need to do. We need to fill our minds with scripture, whether it be memorization study or just reading it.

Maybe we'll move on, because this addresses the next two questions, and I'll answer yours, Monique, too. It's really in the next two questions, and I combined them. Is it possible to have one's motives above and below at the same time, and how strong of a word is seek? It's basically, what does that mean, to seek and set? Does it mean I go into a room, turn all the lights off, dark, put on the headphones, put on some Muzak? White noise.

Or I just open up my Bible and read it. Yeah, open up. I flip it open and that's today. What does that mean? And what does it mean to seek? We'll start there. To search. To search. Okay. Okay. Where it says seek in this passage is, actually the Greek word is, zelotes, zelotes, which means to seek in the sense of to endeavor, to try, to try, to gain, to strive after, with the idea of earnestness and anxiety. Okay? So, with that definition, are we to casually seek after the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God?

It's just kind of a, wandering around. It needs to be a concerted effort. Yeah, from the actual, from the Greek text, the seek is very important. It's not just a lollygagging around. It's an earnest with anxiety, seeking after that. Anxiety. I mean, I just have to have it. I got to go after it.

You know, it's something that's important to me. It's maybe something that, you know, it's a lot of times like the object of love. If God and Christ is an object of love, you just want to seek it. You want to go after that object you love with all passion. And that's where this seeking is an earnest seeking. It's not just if I happen to stumble upon it, it's that I want to find it. I'm not satisfied. until I find it.

So it's an earnestness, and that was actually one that was Zodiates, that definition. I'm going to have to guess. I didn't say it, but that was Zodiates. So that's the Greek, the earnestness or anxiety, that's what he put in there. And that comes from the Lord. Yeah. The Holy Spirit. And that's what I was going to... the next step is, you know, we'll get into, is that just us trying? It's the Holy Spirit convicting and convincing us of these things. And having that passion put into us. I'm sorry, I wasn't meaning to correct you. What I was going to say is, this week I was reading in John, the Upper Room Discourse.

And so, Jesus and his disciples, he's telling them again he's going to go to the cross. and that they're all going to leave. They're all going to leave him. And Peter vowed, no we're not. Three times later? Yeah, you are. And then, so that's where Peter Zeal, look what Peter Zeal got him. Yeah. I love that with Peter too, and I forget which of the Gospels is, when the cock crowed the third time, Christ looked at Peter at that time. One of the translations says, When the cock crowed a third time, the Lord looked at him. Whew! Whew!

You know, after he said, you know, Peter, Peter the guy who was, you know, cutting the ears off, doing the things, charging out, I'll never, I'll never deny you. I think that look was one of total compassion. It wasn't a convicting, it was total compassion for him. And look what happened to Peter afterwards. I think we're tracking with what Josiah is saying. This is absolutely an operation of the Holy Spirit. But I'm a car that would have you believe it's your operation.

When the truth is John 15 and John 14 are very clear about what the Spirit's job is. And so the motivation to seek has to come from the Spirit. But he's not selected. He has every believer. with the heart to seek, every believer, because it's his great desire to reveal Christ. And that's the whole thing, and that's why I said it's the Holy Spirit who is the one who does it, and it's to reveal Christ. That's his job.

And so if there was any sense in which I could initiate and keep going any activity within the spiritual realm, it wouldn't be grace. It would be law by definition. And that God would have to reward me because I've done the right thing. When in fact, I live totally under grace. And so I have to go into this environment with the understanding that this is all being done to me. And I'm not turning the switch anywhere.

It's our job is to receive. That's our job. And is there anything meritorious or work related, you know, that we get a reward just for, you know, our great job of receiving? We're to receive and to say thank you. Under grace, what do you do? You say thank you. There's nothing you can do for it, our definition, the unmerited and unlimited blessings. It's based on Christ-finished work. Unmerited. I always go back to that. Unmerited. It's nothing we do.

The only thing we can do is, and it goes back to everything I hit in question two, faith. We're to believe what's true. And it's the Holy Spirit's job to convict and convince us of those truths. I was thinking that sometimes we maybe need to be reminded that it is by one spirit, speaking of the Holy Spirit, that we have been baptized or identified into one body. So there's nobody left out of this. Every one of us has, by the Holy Spirit, been placed into Christ's body of believers, the Church.

And as a unit, that's what God sees, Christ and us in Him. In that context, our hunger, our joy is in our head, in this body. And we can see Christ at work in each other, don't get me wrong. But that work is not our own. And we praise God, the work of the Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3.18, we talk about this passage here in 1 Corinthians 12.13 as being the foundation truths of our identity, of our union. So since Christ is in contrast in heaven, that's where our hunger is, that's where our joy is, that's where our satisfaction is.

In contrast to the verses we've already read here on earthly things. Touch not, taste not. And that, you know, if you get back to the verse that we've already done, why are we looking, if we're dead, why are we looking to the things of the earth? Why are we putting ourselves under these rules, regulations, all these different things, or earthly satisfaction?

Our earnest desire is to seek Him. And who puts that hunger in us? It's the Holy Spirit. And that's where we say it's... You know, Wanda, I think it's one of those things where it's the Holy Spirit prompting us to focus on the Lord. And these verses say, where is He positioned? the right hand of God. Our focus is on Him seated in the heavenlies. But it's on Him.

And that's the thing, the desire of your heart. If you really love something, you will pursue it. And as the Holy Spirit convicts us, it's to love Him. And as we do that, the object of our love is Christ. And we'll pursue that through the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Isn't there a scripture that says, be anxious for nothing or be anxious of nothing?

Yeah, is that referring to things here? I don't know. I just know when you said it. With all prayer and supplication, make your requests known to God. That's the First Californian version. What's the promise? Finish the verse. And the peace that surpasses all understanding. So again, this is all the things that I talked about again. The faith, remember all last week?

Faith is to believe what's true. And what's true about us is we're heavenly people. Our citizenship's in heaven. Our access is by faith. All those things I went through last week, there were like five things I went through that... Our peace comes by knowing who we are in Christ and our focus on Him. And that again, but we've got to remember this is the Holy Spirit's job. And the One Spirit, we talk about that, the One Spirit. His whole job is to reveal Christ to us. And that's where we get our satisfaction. That's where the peace that surpasses all understanding comes from.

But you still didn't answer what you were saying, the Hebrew word, or whatever word that it said. Anxiety. Seek anxiously, or something. It's basically with a passion, a desire. That's the word for seek. was with a passion. Go after it. Seek it. It's like you need it.

Yeah, but not anxiously. Well, it's with a passion. And anxious can be a thing. I am an engineer. Eagerly. Yeah, and that's what I'm saying. Anxiety is not the same as eagerness. Right, and that's what I'm saying. You say it as anxiety, like I'm worrying about stuff. Anxious can also mean eagerness. And so that's what I think. You take it as anxiety, like, oh my goodness, the world is collapsing on me.

That's not the anxious or anxiety. Anxious is, I can't wait. If we follow the school of thought that says I can do this, we will be anxious because there's no level of metric that says I'm satisfied if it all depends on me. If anything depends on me, it's guaranteed to fail. And we're always going to be unsatisfied. I could have prayed more. I could have read more. I didn't do enough. And who's telling you that? The flesh. What was that? Yes. It's like Mike told not me, the whole class.

It depends on what controls you. You can be controlled by something. You know, you can hardly wait to go golfing, so you put God on the back burner. Because you're being controlled by what you want. Let me get down. How easy that can be. Because the second question is, is it possible to have one's motives above and below at the same time? Yeah, I'll get to it. Yes, yes. Well, I think I asked about this once before. I was wrong, but anyway. So you're going to ask me again and see if we get a different answer? I hope I get the same answer, Mike, or whoever.

What I want to know, it's so important that we know that Christ is seated, where He is seated and so forth. But about this, where it says He ever leaves to make intercession for us. The Holy Spirit. And by accordance here, it says intercession is pleading. The Holy Spirit makes intercession. Okay, it says here, in Romans it says the Spirit makes intercession for us, and in Hebrews it's talking about Jesus. As the High Priest. As the High Priest, yeah. And he's talking about it as the High Priest.

Is that part of that role of knowing one, to know where he's seated, because that's how we make our pleadings to God? Or is that the end result, just knowing him? I think with all the verses, the knowing is the key. Because I always think that too, and one of the hungry hearts just recently was saying about that. If we ask for intercession, and I think I read it maybe last week, and he pulls that trial off, what's our natural, or the fleshly response after that? going our merry way, because it's been satisfied. Intercession, I think, is just, I don't know, the realization of where he's seated.

And with these verses, it says our focus is supposed to be on him seated in the heavenlies. Does that mean that all these circumstances down here we're supposed to focus on, too? So you focus down here, but you focus up there, which is the question five. Oh yeah. Having our focus on the heavenly places, is that the same thing as having an eternal perspective?

I think so, part of it. You know, it goes back to me and a lot like John 17. That the union we have with Christ, expressed in John 17. He's going to share his glory with us. He's going to share his love with us. That's what he wants to do and is doing.

And from an internal perspective, that's a positional. It's never to change. So yeah, it is an internal position. But I mean, from a conditional standpoint, these are conditional. We are to set our minds and to seek. That's what we are to do. And I'll get down to the Greek part of it. But that's what we're to do now, present. And again, with an internal view. I'm just trying to clear my mind what it means to have our eyes focused on the Lord that way. And that's what I said, there's a general reference to things above, but then where Christ is seated, our focus is on Christ.

I said that many years ago, that Mike told me just to read the scriptures to know him, in 2 Peter 3.18. to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

To know Him. Life is to know Him. Eternal life is to know Him. So our focus, how do you know somebody? You spend time with them. This is setting your mind, seeking. You spend time, look through the scripture and through the Holy Spirit. It's always his job to reveal the Lord to us. That's the seeking. That's the setting your mind. That's why I said it's not the accoutrements. It's not heaven is this glorious place, which it is. But our focus is on things above, but more specifically on him.

I think in somewhat of a response that One of the things the Spirit of God does is He teaches you to be dependent on Him. So that your world view slowly changes as He changes your mind into the mind of Christ. So that you don't have a rigid sort of world philosophy. You're dependent on what the Spirit is teaching you on a daily basis depending on the circumstances and your understanding of the Word and your intimacy with Christ. you have his view? Well, we're told we have the mind of Christ.

It's based on my dependence and your dependence on him. That's what it's based on. And the dependency is, if you don't know somebody, can you depend on them? I mean, in this case, it doesn't matter whether we know or not, he is faithful. Remember that one, he remains faithful, even though I may be not faithful, he will.

Truths are all about us. It's when our focus is on Him is that the peace that surpasses all understanding, the rest. Remember that handout that I gave you in Galatians 1? As we go through those things, we have peace, rest, and joy. And what is that? By our focus on things above, where Christ It's our focus on Christ and our relationship, our intimacy with Him, and the seek is with that earnestness. Let me get into the, well, I said after the earnestness, you know, with that definition we can casually seek after the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. No, it's telling us to anxiously or eagerly go after it. And then the word set your mind on is phaneo. And this is so, we're to seek and to set. So to set, to think, have a mindset, be minded. The activity represented by this word involves the will, affections, and conscience.

Specifically in Colossians 3.2, it means to be mindful of or devoted to things above where Christ is seated. So again, with these definitions, logical imperative to seek and set our minds on things above. Is it possible to have one's motives above and below at the same time?

Question five. I'd say yes. That's what I said. Yes. We have a yes? I mean you can go there, you can go and be anxious. My definition of anxiety. At the same time? Well, maybe not the same time. Not at the same instant I wrote, but there are battles. But we know our position. But there are still battles here in this condition. Right.

So, can I be focusing on Christ and the world? Yes. You can? I think so because, look, I believe in God. But at the same time, I have to work, I've got to pay my rent, so I have to do that too. So that's your thinking still, your main thinking is about Christ. But, you know, I've got to go grocery shopping, the baby needs to have her diaper changed. So, I think it's both. Okay, we have a both. I just have a real quick question about that.

So, if that can be the case, does that mean that there are things that Christ doesn't have any business in our life in? So, are there things that Christ doesn't care about, like changing the diaper or grocery shopping? That's just a follow-up question. Well, I think Christ can be in my head while I'm changing the diaper.

What do you mean by motives? Is there any area of life that he does not have, does not desire to be involved in? Yeah. Okay. What do you mean by motives? Motives? Yeah. Does that mean our purpose of doing things or what motivates us? I don't know. What do you mean by motives? OK. Is it possible that one's motive is above and below at the same time.

So our last price you your your definition. Yeah. I have my answer. But maybe you should let you. My motive is the thing that causes you to do it. To do what you do. Right. Can be crazy or it can be. What's that? It can be grace for long. It can be a lot of reasons. It can be sin, it can be whatever.

It's where the walking is. Is it walking in the flesh or in the spirit? See, that's what I go to. It's one or the other. You're walking in the flesh, you're walking in the spirit. You're not doing this. Stepping in both. I think you're either one or the other. Your focus is...

I do this all the time. I'm in business. And I'm thanking the Lord why I'm doing business. And when I'm, you know, focused on things, I... I don't know how to put this. Look, I'm sewing. I'm still thinking of God, but my hand's busy. Yeah. So, does that mean that I put God on the back burner? No, I don't. No, I think the focus of what you're doing and the motive may be part of it is, you know, I guess for business, if I'm doing it for myself, is that the right motive? Or am I doing it as unto the Lord? You could be working and it's unto the Lord. Yeah, that's my motive.

I call it my Nebuchadnezzar syndrome. I do this when I get a project. I just got one the other day. Big project. Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo! Am I pretty special? I nailed a big project. Nebuchadnezzar out on the back patio saying, look at all what I've done. What happened to him? He ate grass and grass tastes. How does that grass taste, buddy? And when did he get out of that? How did he get out of it?

By acknowledging God. Set his mind on things above. Christ. God. You know? And so again, my fleshly was, this is a great... I gotta stop and say, thank you, Lord. This is of you, not me. You're just using me as a tool, as a channel. You know, my good buddy who's with the Lord now, Sam Dalton, always carried a flexible tube around. That's all I am. I'm just a vessel for him to use me. I can be using any of those things, but my focus is not on myself, but on Christ. Thank you, Lord, for providing this in trials. Thank you, Lord.

OK, so what's the answer? I think that the thing is you and why you do things, the motive, why you do it. Is it for yourself or for realizing God is involved? That change of mind that you just had is attributable to the Holy Spirit and not you. Oh yeah, absolutely. The two is that it's God who causes you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. And you have to know that.

Because if the Spirit of God decided, well I'm just going to let Courtney stand on the back porch and do this Nebuchadnezzar dance, you'd still be out there doing it. I'd be doing it, yeah. I don't know. So, you know, I guess to her question, you know, it's, you know, more on moment by moment basis, that your focus is still on Him, in changing the diaper, in doing that thing. You're still, you know, doing it as unto the Lord. If I get my hair done, I love God, but I'm getting my hair done for me, not for God. What do I do then? You know, I guess, maybe, I don't know, from the question perspective, and maybe what Jim said, does God know about that? And is He involved in it? I think He's happy. Because I do believe in Him and I haven't put Him to the side.

It's just that... You've got to live, otherwise we're all going to be unemployed and we're just sitting there praying. Not true. Not true? That's not true. That shows a lack of dependence on the sovereignty of God. We can address that next week. That's the apathy argument. That we basically, all we do is sit around and contemplate. We go in a dark room and we contemplate God. Yeah, but if He's within me, I don't have to do that. Well, yeah, let's address that next week because that really is a key. A lot of people do that, especially when we teach grace. This is the response usually with grace. You can't understand, or people, I shouldn't say that, they misuse what grace is.

If God's going to do it all and I can't do anything, I'm just going to sit back. I'm not going to do anything because it's all Him. I'm just going to sit here. Let go, let God. Yeah, let go, let God. And he said you're going to be working by the side of your brows because of Adam. Thank you.

We'll address that. I don't think we have time. We've already well past the second bell. But I'll address that next week. Because that is one that we see a lot in grace, in our teaching on grace. And it's the apathy. Because we focus on God, we can't do anything else. Did Paul do that? All right, let's close.

Thank you again just for this time this time where we can study Word and again just setting our minds on Christ and again that as we do that as you have said we will grow in the grace and knowledge of your son and also will be transformed in the 2nd Corinthians 3 18 will be transformed and Again, we just seek and set our minds on things above and we just realized that the only way we can do that is through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who reveals Your Son to us. So, Father, we just thank You for this time and we just pray for the next meeting. Again, just all that we say and do will be honor and glorifying to You. And we do all these things in the name of Your Son, the Lord Jesus. Amen.