"A Life Hidden in Christ" By Jesse Rairdon August 21st,
2016
Please remain standing as Brother
Bill A. comes to lead us in prayer, if he can catch his breath. Bill: Let’s bow our
heads. Lord Jesus, God, we thank You so
much for the opportunity, Lord, to sit up, to breath, to open our eyes and see
that which is in front of us. God, to
stretch out our legs, stretch out our arms, but, more importantly, even if we
don’t have all of those, whether we be blind, deaf, lame, missing limbs, God,
You have given us a heart that beats for You, and, Lord, so long as that heart
beats, as long as that heart beats, people seek You. And, God, if that heart stops beating, then,
where’s the loss? Because we will walk
with You. And, Lord, God, today, as we
listen to the Word, that our brother has spent the entire week preparing, God,
I just pray that we would give it no less attention than the finest mea you
have ever had in your life, because, God, that is what You set before us every
time we bow our knees before the throne.
Lord, God, I pray that You would tune our hearts, tune our ears to your
Word, right now, to the voice of Your servant.
God, bless his tongue, and bless our ears that we hear, in Jesus’ name,
amen. And, also, Lord Jesus, forgive the
sins and iniquities of Your servant, today, and touch his lips, that the words
that I speak would be pure, and minister grace to the hearers. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Amen. Please be seated. Welcome, church! Good morning.
Happy Sunday. And every day is
the Lord’s Day, so, I won’t say, “Happy Lord’s Day,” because, when you’re
living for God, there is no special day for God; every day is the day that God
has given, amen? And today is the day of
salvation, if you listen to His voice. So, we’ve been talking about the
letter to Colosse, Paul’s epistle to Colosse.
As Parrish had mentioned, Paul hadn’t personally started this ministry,
n person, at Colosse. Someone else had
started this work, and it as a young church, and it was a church he had not
seen face to face. He had not went and
visited them face to face, though he desired to be with them in the flesh; his
epistle very much—and his writings very much stated that. He loved those people, just as if he had been
there and saw them. Our Scripture for the month is: Colossians 1:10-12 That ye
might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good
work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might,
according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with
joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: We’re going to start off in
Colossians, chapter three; that’s where we’re going to spend most of our time,
today, if you’re taking notes, and we’re going to jump into Genesis; we’re
going to look at a few things in Genesis, too. Colossians 3:1-4 If ye
then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ
sitteth on the right hand of God. Set
your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with
Christ in God. When Christ, who is our
life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. What does it mean to be hidden, or
to hide, in Christ? When my daughter
plays hide and seek, I’ll say, “Go,” and she’ll run to the corner around the
couch. I see her the whole way, where
she’s going, and she’s grinning, and she ducks down. She can’t see me; I can’t see her right then,
but I know exactly where she’s at. So,
when I come around, and I look, “Where’s my daughter? Where is Julia?” And she’ll pop up, “Here I am, Daddy!” This big old grin. Not that kind of hiding. There’s a difference. Our life is hidden in Christ. Sometimes we treat God the same,
as if we are hiding from Him, but He sees it all. He knows exactly where we are at, He knows our
heart, he knows what has been dealing with us. He knows what I’ve been doing; He knows where
I’ve been. So how can we hide our life in
Christ? Part 1-
Affections What do we set our affections
on? Easton’s Bible Dictionary says it
this way: Affections- Feeling or emotion. Mention is made of “vile affections” (Romans
1:26) and, “inordinate affection” (Colossians 3:5). Christians are exhorted to set their
affections on things above [which we’re going to talk about] (Colossians 3:2). This is a distinction between the natural and
spiritual, or gracious affections (Ezekiel 33:32). Now, there is no Greek word—when I
was looking, because I like to go into the Greek and Hebrew, of this word,
‘affections,’ right here in this first verse, “Set your affections on things
above…” There is a Greek word for the
affections of things of the Earth; we’re going to talk about that a little
later. So, I had to go into another—a little
bit more definition—I went to the Webster’s 1828 dictionary; it said, “The
state of being affected (little used), passion (more generally), a bent mind
towards a particular object, holding a middle place between disposition, which
is natural, and passion, which is excitement by the presence of this
object. Affection is a permanent bent of
the mind, formed by the presence of that object, or by some act of another
person, and existing without the presence of this object.” So, you think about this thing even when it’s
not physically in front of you. That’s
what you’re setting your affection on. “In
a more particular sense, a sum of good will, zealous attachment, as the
affection of a parent to his child, is formally followed by ‘to’ or ‘towards,’
or, more generally followed by ‘for.’
Desire, inclination, propensity, good or evil, virtuous or vile
affections. In a general sense, an
attribute or quality or property which is inseparable from his object, as in
love, fear, hope, affections of the mind, figure, weight, or affections of the
body. So, affections can be towards the
good and towards the bad. In my
marriage, I need to set my affections towards my wife. I say things to her like
“you are beautiful today,” “I love you; I’m so glad that I’m married to you.” I set my affections to my wife. That doesn’t mean I don’t notice anybody else
in the world, but my affection are set to her.
It is her, alone, that I love, that I want to please, in that
affection. Amen? So how do I set my affections on
things above? I set my feelings and
emotions on the things that please God.
Whether it be by my words, “Thank You, Jesus, for being so good to me,” “Thank
You, Father, for allowing me to be your child,” “Thank You for who You are, and
all that You do,” “Thank You, thank You,
thank You.” You can never thank God
enough. So, the first step in hiding our
life in Christ is setting or affections on the things that please Him. Colossians 3:5 Mortify therefore
your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate
affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: All of these things are idolatry,
that you set your affections on.
Basically, idolatry is setting up something in the place of God. You’re saying, “This thing is going to
deliver me. I’m setting my affections on
this thing; this thing is going to please me.
That’s where I’m putting my focus, on this thing, instead of the things
of God. Colossians 3:6-7 For
which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of
disobedience: In the which ye also
walked some time, when ye lived in them. We were ignorant of these things
at one time. We walked in them; we lived in them. We didn’t realize that there is a place that
God has for us, that we can get away from these things. Colossians 3:8 But now ye also put
off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of
your mouth. Now, let’s look at the Greek
definition of this affection. From the
Greek word, pathos- properly, suffering ("pathos"), i.e.
(subjectively) a passion (especially concupiscence):-- (inordinate) affection,
lust. You don’t actually have to do
something to commit this, you’re just setting your affection towards it. You start to think about it all the time, and
you start to go to this. Then we start
to hide from God, when we go to these things. It kind of sounds like Adam and Eve; that’s
where we’re going to go next, the Book of Genesis. Chris touched on this a little bit last week,
when he spoke about deception and being beguiled by Satan. But, it wasn’t God’s plan for us hide from Him, it was God’s plan to be hidden
in Him. So, let’s go to Genesis and talk
about this place that God has set up, the Garden of Eden. Genesis 2:4-6 These are the
generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day
that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field
before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the
LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to
till the ground. But there went up a
mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. Everything was just taken care of
by God. Man wasn’t there to till
it. Rain didn’t come to provide for it;
God just provided a mist. Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of
the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a
living soul. God created a new creature, man,
and he became a living soul. Genesis 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward
in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. He had placed him in a particular
spot. Genesis 2:9 And out of the ground
made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good
for food… Everything. Everything you could ever need, this man,
that He put there, it was good for food, all these trees. The tree of life was also in the garden, and
the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Skip down to verse sixteen and
seventeen. Genesis 2:16-17 And the LORD God
commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die. Pretty simple, right? You’ve got this whole garden, you’ve got all
this food; everything, you can eat, Adam, except that one. And, sure enough,
man’s going to mess it up, right? He had
all this fruit, all this food, everything taken care of. Didn’t really have to work for it. There was just—what kind of life would that
be, if you didn’t have to get up, and go to work, pay bills, and worry about
the stress of this life, and dealing with a boss, and dealing with other
employees, and dealing with people in the room?
Everything was just kind of provided for you. Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any
beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman,
Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Hmmm. Didn’t God say this? The devil’s in the preaching business, huh? Wow, he knows the Word of God. Be careful what you take and receive. Study the Word. Genesis 3:2-3 And the woman said
unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the
midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye
touch it [not only can you not eat, you can’t touch it], lest ye die. So she knew, from Adam, because it
wasn’t told directly to her; Adam taught her, like he should, “This is the tree
that we do not touch, that we do not eat from.” Genesis 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye
shall not surely die: Lie! Lie, lie, lie, and we’ve been dying since,
right? Genesis 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good
and evil. We didn’t know sin at that
time. We didn’t know those other things
that we were setting our affections on until this point. Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was
pleasant to the eyes [The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the
pride of life], and a tree to be desired
to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also
unto her husband with her; and he did eat. So, here’s Adam—I’ve often kind of
wondered why Adam is just kind of standing by, letting this whole conversation
happen, and just let all this, willingly, happen. At some point, instead of placing blame on
the woman, later, he could have said, “Wait a minute. God said don’t—you just said, ‘God said,
‘Don’t touch that, don’t eat that,’’ and, here you are, trying to eat
this. No, we can’t do this.” Genesis3:7-8 And the eyes of them both were opened [they
had sin], and they knew that they were
naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the LORD God
walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid
themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. So, they were in a place that God
had provided for them, trying to hide from God, because they had sinned,
because they now realized they were sinful.
Their eyes were opened; they could now understand this. Genesis3:9-10 And the LORD God
called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden,
and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. That’s the type of hiding we’re
not supposed to do. We’re hidden in
Christ, not hiding from Christ.
Amen? And verses twenty-to
through twenty-four—this is going to play in later, as we’re going to mention
this later. Genesis3:22-24 And the LORD God
said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now,
lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live
for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent
him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was
taken. So he drove out the man; and he
placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which
turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. That sword represents, now, the
Word of God. That’s how you keep the
tree of life, of everlasting life, now, by the Word of God. We’re going to get back into that a little
further. So, God had provided everything,
a hiding place, everything they could ever want, everything they could ever
desire, as far as the things that they need, to live by. Yet, they still made a wrong choice? Chris talked about choices last week in his
message. Sometimes we make the wrong
choice. They set their affection to the
one thing God told them not to. The one
thing that God said is going to destroy you, they did it. Jesus talked about setting our
affections this way: Matthew 6:19-21 Lay not up
for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and
where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not
break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also. What we set our affections on
determines whether our life is hid in Christ or not. You see, your heart follows what you set your
affections on. Your heart follows what
you set your affections on. Where your
heart is, that’s where it is. You’ve
really only got—the Bible says God knows the hearts (1 Kings 8:39). He said it’s desperately wicked, above all
things (Jeremiah 17:9). So, he tries our
hearts, and He gives man according to—everything according to his doings
(Revelation 2:23). So, if we’re setting
our affections on the world, that’s where our heart is, and that’s where we’re
going to be at. Part 2- A New
Person, Put In A New Place. So, just like Adam, we are a new
person, put in a new place. God has
provided a hidden place where, spiritually, you have all the fruit you need to
eat. Colossians 3:9-11 Lie not
one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed
in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew,
circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ
is all, and in all. The interesting things about
Colossians is, this was a mix of a lot of different people. In fact, displaced people from the Babylon,
about two thousand families, Jewish families, were also placed there. So, there was a strong, solid foundation of
the Jewish faith there. Plus there was a
lot of the Roman doctrines and philosophies, that’s why you heard about the warning,
earlier, in chapter two, about don’t get into the vain philosophies, and these
doctrines of men, where they have you voluntarily worshipping angels. That was a big thing, then; they had a
big—like, almost a whole religion, where people were starting to worship the
angels, worship the creation, vice the creator.
Colossians 3:12-14 Put on
therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness,
humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a
quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity,
which is the bond of perfectness. So, when you’re put in this new
place, and put to work with each other.
I probably would have never would have, in the flesh, probably worked
with hardly any of you. I was kind of a
loner. But, here I am; now, here we are,
placed in this place, together, to work together. Just as the same, in the church in Colosse,
we are hidden in Christ. We become a new
creature. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if
any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold,
all things are become new. All things are become new. You’re in a new place. How we treat each other matters. How we treat each other brings about the
fruit. We have a place where we can eat all
the spiritual fruit we need, and God desires.
If we don’t treat each other well, we don’t bring about that fruit. If we harbor bitterness, unforgiveness, if
we’re not humble one towards another, if we’re not willing to learn from one
another, if we’re not willing to encourage one another, this garden will not
bear the fruit that God intended for it.
I will not bear the fruit, especially if I’m setting my affections on
things of the Earth, I’m not going to bear the fruit that God wants me to bear
to share with the rest of you. We need
each other. What do you bring? Parrish talked about that. What has God put in your life? What do you bring to this hidden place? Do you ring anything? You just show up? And I admit, there’s times that I need the
fellowship more than it needs me, and there’s times when I bring more, but,
sometimes I don’t even know until I show up.
I’m not just talking about here, in this physical building on Sunday
morning. What about times when you can
get together, call one another, pray and—men’s prayer on Friday night; it’s
quite uplifting. It’s god to see you,
Matthew, back. Me and Matthew were
taking about there’s a lot of people that profess to be Christians in the
world, today, but don’t act on that faith in God. And he sees that in the Navy where he’s at,
and he wants to be with people who have that faith and act on that faith, and,
today, Matthew, you’re in a place where you can get that. So, how we treat each other I very
important. Don’t lie to each other, be
honest with each other. Be honest with
each other. Honest with each other. If you’re hurting, say you’re hurting so you
can pray for one another. Don’t say,
“I’m fine, and everything’s great,” when you’re lying. Be honest, so your brothers and sisters can
pray for you. If I offend you, let me
know. And, if I haven’t offended you,
yet, stick around me a while; I probably will sooner or later, but, at least
let me know. Please let me know, so that
I can pray with you, because God’s not going to accept my gift, until I get it
right with my brother (Matthew 5:23-24), ‘til I get it right with my sister. Amen? When
we are honest, it opens the door for that forgiveness. I really can’t truly forgive until I’ve been
honest, and I can’t be forgiven until I’ve been honest. This is where you can truly exercise
that charity, is through forgiveness. Charity (Godly love) keeps us together, it’s
that bond that holds us in this new place, this hidden place of God. And, it’s His Word that keeps us on the path
to eternal life. Genesis 2:24, again, it
says, “So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden
Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the
tree of life.” So, from the fall of Adam
until the Holy Ghost came, we really didn’t have access to that eternal—yeah,
there was a chosen people, but they kept making mistakes, too. The Law didn’t save them, because they were
flesh. Now, some were obedient to God
until death, and they were faithful. And
there’s more to that; we won’t get into that, today, we’ll make that another
message. We’ll talk about that, why He
went and preached down, when Jesus, before He rose, He went and preached to the
prisoners. To keep the way—If you don’t pick
up your Bible, and read it, how do you know which way to go? Every day.
Meditate on it. Think upon
it. Pray to God about it, “Give me
understanding, Lord.” Don’t just take
what people are saying, even from this pulpit.
I’ve been wrong before, and been corrected. Amen?
I may be wrong again, but God is right.
Amen. Part 3- Peace of
God in This Hidden Place. So, you’ve got no peace? Let’s see how we can get that peace. Colossians 3:15-16 And let the
peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body;
and be ye thankful. Let the word of
Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to
the Lord. Sometimes we get offended when
someone just tries to share a Scripture with us. You’re not the only one. People got offended when Jesus spoke,
too. In the Parable of the Sower, He
said that, over time, people are even going to be offended because of the
Word. Are we getting to that place,
where we get offended because of the Word of God, or are we sharing, teaching
one another, admonishing one another in songs, and hymns, and spiritual songs,
singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord?
Colossians 3:17 And whatsoever ye do
in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and
the Father by him. Parrish mentioned that sometimes
we give a twenty-five cent thank You for a million dollar blessing. Like a drive-by, “Oh, thank You, God.” Take time to really, truly thank God for what
He’s doing in your life. Take time to
just stop, and say, “Thank You, Jesus.
Thank You for everything.
Everything.” We can have the
Peace of God, and be thankful. Just like
that sword kept the way to the tree of life, so does His word in our hearts
helps us stay focused on things above, but, if we neglect coming to that place,
fellowship, encouragement from one another, if we neglect these things, we’re
neglecting ourselves. Although, God
wants to water you, God wants to feed you, God wants to nourish you, God wants to
see you restored, God wants to see you happy, God wants to see you have joy,
God wants to see you bring this out into the world that don’t have this hidden
place. The garden was there for Adam and
Eve and so is this here for us. We can bear more fruit, doing these
things for God. God wants us to bear
fruit. Philippians 4:4-9 Rejoice
in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto
all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful
for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all
understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are
pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if
there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and
received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with
you. “Let your moderation be known unto
all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful
for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known unto God.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding…” That peace in that hidden place. Sometimes we go through so much turmoil, but
we won’t go to the place where we can get the peace. We try to find our peace in everything else
in the world. We try to find it in our
football team, we try to find it in our family, we try to find it in our
friends, we try to find it in the things of the world, that won’t offer the
peace, because it’s in the hidden place that God’s given to us that we won’t go
to! But, “…the peace of God, which
passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ
Jesus.” So how do you set your aff—here’s
some of the things that you set your affections on above (verse number
eight): “Finally, brethren, whatsoever
things are true…” Truth. Don’t lie to one another. Truth.
“…whatsoever things are honest…”
Be honest with one another.”
“…whatsoever things are just…”
Right. “…whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever
things are of good report…” I work in
Human Resources, and, sometimes, all we hear are bad reports. It’s good to hear a good report sometimes,
because we’re always dealing with situations and solving problems. Sometimes, maybe Parrish and Andy would like to
hear some good things, not just all the bad things. Sometimes, though, if all you’re doing is
bringing bad things to them, if you’re not bringing any good reports, you’re
not in the hidden place of God. Bring
some good things. Bring some
encouragement, to each other, not just to Parrish and Andy. Text your brother, text your sister. Tell them what you’ve learned in the Word
today. Where’s Ed K? He might be out of town today. Me and him, on a weekly basis, we call one
another, we go over Scriptures, we pray.
I look forward to those times, to get together. “…if there be any virtue, and if there be any
praise, think on these things.” If you
need to, maybe set up an accountability person, partner, a couple of prayer
people in your life that you can hold yourself accountable. Don’t just make it kind of superficial,
“Okay, I’m done. I checked off that box
for the week.” Be honest. Be honest.
If you’re hurting, you’re hurting.
If you’re in sin, you’re in sin. You
don’t have to give them the details; they don’t need to know the details. But, be honest with your brothers ad your
sisters, amen? Let me get back to the
Scripture: “…if there be any praise, think on these things.” Set your affection on these things. When you set your affection on these things,
you’re going to have the peace of God in your heart and mind. John chapter fourteen; quite a
lengthy verse, here, but I thought it was important, in talking about the peace
of God, that we heard about it from none other than Jesus Himself. See, we can have the peace of God in this
hidden place. Think about the most
lovely garden in the world, like the botanical gardens, or maybe even the one
that the king of Babylon built at one time; nothing compares to the hidden
place of God. I can’t imagine what Eden
would have been like, walking through that garden, just the beauty of it. Just being able to have peace in there, not
worrying about any troubles. Just naming
everything; just, your job is just to name things, just kind of watch over
things, and live. John 14:23-26 Jesus answered and
said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love
him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings:
and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, being
yet present with you. But the Comforter,
which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach
you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have
said unto you. If all it was, was Jesus in the
flesh, we wouldn’t have much of a Gospel.
We needed something to teach us and remind us of this hidden place, and
that’s what the spirit of God’s for, the Holy Ghost. To teach us, and grow. John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto
you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. The world cannot give the same
peace as Jesus gives. Cannot give it. John 14:28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go
away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I
said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. Now, in the flesh, that wouldn’t make
sense. Why are you going to rejoice
because He’s leaving? This is their
teacher, this is their mentor, this is their encourager, but something has to
come back greater than Him to be able to show them all the things of God. Remember, he only had three years with
them. He could only teach them, show
them so much, but the Spirit of God is with you your whole life, teaching you,
showing you, giving you that peace. John 14:29-30 And now I have told
you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might
believe. Hereafter I will not talk much
with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. He (the prince of this world) has
nothing to do with that hiding place, so, basically, He cut His conversation
short right there. He said, “I’m not
going to talk about this much more, right now, because the devil’s coming, and
he has nothing to do with this place, this hiding place, this thing that I’m
going to give you.” John 14:31 But that the world may know that I love the
Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go
hence. Maybe you’re here today, and God
has brought you to this place, and you see that place, and you see the love
that people have for one another, and you’re kind of on the outside looking in,
and you’re saying, “I would like to obey Him.” You can be a new creation; you can be put into
this place, and you can feed of the fruit of this place, just like we do. Like Chris shared last week, you’ve got to be
buried with him in Baptism. You’ve got
to believe. You’ve got to know and
understand that—set your affections on these things, willing to turn from the
things that you thought were pleasing, you thought were giving you peace. Willing to be that new creature. Maybe you’re here today, and you’ve set your
affections on things of this earth for some time. Kind of stepped out of the garden, stepped
away from God, but God’s calling you back.
You can have a fresh start, you can have a new walk with God, even
today. Don’t wait. Maybe you just need to spend time at this
altar. Some elders will be around to
pray with you. Right, Parrish? Take that time; don’t neglect that time of
coming. God is here; He’s waiting. Maybe you’re here, and you have an
issue with a brother or sister here today, you can be honest with that person and
forgive and let love bring that bond of perfectness that God desires to have in
this church, in this family. Some people
heard that, and said, “Oh, they’ve got issues in that church.” Well, welcome to the human race. We’ve all got issues, but this is where we
come to get it settled out. This is
where we come to work it out, so that when we go out there, people will notice
that we have the love of Christ, so they’ll be attracted to that which we have,
and they will want that Spirit in their lives. Our closing Scripture: we’ll go
back to the theme of the month. Colossians 1:10-12 That ye
might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good
work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might,
according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with
joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Amen. Give the Lord a praise.
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