Look in your Bibles to Colossians chapter three and look at verses one through four. And we want to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ tonight. And that's why we are here to hear about our Savior and to focus our eyes upon the Lord Jesus. Look in chapter three and look at verse number one. And these are familiar verses, but let's just look at them again, because there's so much depth. to what these verses say and how they speak to our hearts. Verse 1 of chapter 3, if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. And so tonight, very simply, I'm going to preach on seeking things above. That's exactly what these verses are talking about. Someone said the Christian life is kind of, we have to live a balanced life. We have to live and keep our feet on the earth, but our heart and our head have to be in the heavenlies. And we mean that in a very positive way. We've heard the phrase, sometimes you can be so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good. And there's some legitimacy to that. I'm sure that some people can be filled with religiosity and not really affect anything around them. But the way that the apostle Paul teaches us to have our mind and our heart in the heavenlies, that's a good thing. And the truth of the matter is, the more heavenly minded that a believer is, the more earthly good they're going to be for God. And that's really the message that Paul is trying to give us. He's challenging believers to seek things which are above. Now, let's remind you again where we are in the context of the book of Colossians. We've already studied chapters one and two. And in chapters 1 and 2, the Apostle Paul has laid a strong foundation of Christian doctrine. And this is normally characteristic of Paul in his writings, where in the first part of the epistle, he's very doctrinal, he's very theological, he'll give you deep truths from the Word of God. And then in the last part of his letters, it's characteristic of Paul to come and be very practical. Based on the doctrinal foundation that he lays, he gives us practical implications or practical application for the things that he said. Now, we saw in chapters 1 and 2 that Paul then was very doctrinal. In fact, chapter 2, some New Testament scholars say, is one of the hardest chapters in all of the Bible to really digest and understand. It's not a very easy chapter. He does say some difficult and deep things there, but he does it in a very logical way. But having laid the foundation now in chapters 3 and 4, he's very practical. Chapters 1 and 2 deal with what we are to believe. Chapters 3 and 4 deal with how we are to behave. Chapters 1 and 2 deal with our position in Christ. Chapters 3 and 4 deal with our practice now in Christ. And so Paul is telling us that what we believe determines how we behave. And let me remind you again of the general outline that I gave you of Colossians. And the theme again is the preeminence and the sufficiency of Christ. And we saw in chapter 1, the preeminence of Christ is declared. Paul is declaring that Jesus is preeminent in the gospel message that he preached and the effect that it had on those in that very church. In redemption, in creation, in the church, and in Paul's own ministry, he shows how that Christ is preeminent. And then in chapter 2, the preeminence of Christ is defended. Declared in chapter 1, defended in chapter 2. And he defends it against all of these false ideas that were threatening the Colossians. Against intellectualism or philosophy, Paul said, Beware lest any man spoil you through vain philosophy. Against ritualism in chapter 2, you don't have to practice Old Testament ceremonies and rituals because all of those are shadows. Christ is the substance. And then against mysticism, you don't need any extra revelation. You're not falling short if you don't have some kind of mystic experience, because Christ is all, and He's all you need. And so he defends it against mysticism, and then he defends the preeminence of Christ against asceticism, living by a list of do's and don'ts. A person is not sanctified by that. That is not the cause of sanctification. Living by standards is the result of sanctification, what God has already done in your heart. Now, in chapter 3 and 4, the preeminence of Christ is demonstrated. Again, it's all practical now. It does little good to declare and defend the truth about the preeminence of Christ if we fail to demonstrate it in our lives. Now, in the pagan world back then, they had a duality in the way that they worshipped and functioned. They could go to an idol, they could bow before an idol, and then worship that idol, and then walk away and just live however they want to and live in sin. That was the way that the pagan world lived. But Paul and the Christianity introduced a new idea, and that is this, what you believe determines how you behave. The Christian faith taught that in that world. You can't just say you believe something and then live any way that you want to. And so all of what Paul has been talking about, about the preeminence of Christ, should show forth in the life of the believer. Isn't that right? Do you believe tonight that Christ is preeminent? And do you believe that Christ is sufficient? Well, if that's true, if that's what you believe, then it should determine how you behave in your life. And that's what Paul's going to show us. It should be demonstrated in the purity of our lives. It should be demonstrated in our Christian fellowship, in our home, in our daily work. It should be demonstrated in our witness for Christ. It should be demonstrated in our service for Christ. Now look at verse number two. Here's the main idea. Set your affections on things above. Not on things on the earth. And that's the key idea here. Now, from this, I want to just give you five principles tonight, five truths regarding what Paul is trying to teach us. If you're taking notes, here's number one, the reminder. Very simply, the reminder. Look at verse one. If he then be risen with Christ. Now stop right there because, again, the Greek sentence here is first-class condition, so we can say it like this, since you then are risen with Christ. This is expressing a reality, not a maybe, but a certainty. You have been risen with Christ. If you're here tonight and you're saved, you're risen with Christ. You are risen with Him. Now what is Paul doing here? He's building on an idea that he has already established in chapter 2, and he's dealt with this several times. And what is the main idea? What is the main theme? And you have to grasp this. In fact, if you don't grasp this one dominant theme and idea in the teaching of Paul, you're probably not really going to fully grasp his theology. What is the dominant idea here? And you've heard me say it before. I feel like I'm a broken record. I'm repeating it, I feel like, so often in sermons. But it is so dominant in the New Testament. And what is it? It's the idea of the believer's union with Christ. You understand that? You are one with Christ. You are united to Christ. And so, therefore, you are identified with Him in His death and His burial and in His resurrection. You are one with Him in all of that. And Paul already establishes, you say, where? Go back to chapter 2. Again, look at verse number 12. He says, buried with him in baptism. Remember, we say that's not water baptism. That is being immersed in Jesus. And so you're buried with Him in baptism, when also you are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God. This is all by the power of God. You were buried with Him. Look at verse 13 in chapter 2, and you being dead in your sins. And so he gives the idea right there. You died with Christ, you were buried with Him, you rose with Him. And again, look in chapter 2 and look in verse 20. Remember, we saw this last week. Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world... The reason we don't need to follow a list of do's and don'ts of asceticism is because we died to the world's religious system. We died to those principles. When? When we died with Christ. Because we were identified with Christ. Because we were one with Christ. Now, what is Paul doing here in chapter 3 and verse 1? He's building on that same idea. He continues to build on it. And again, this is so dominant in Paul's writing, a dominant theme. In fact, you see it all the time when you read the New Testament. It's really given in one prepositional phrase or in two words. What is it? In Christ. In Christ. How many times when you read through the New Testament do you see the words in Christ? It's all over, right? Let me tell you how many times you see it, 216 times. That's how many times we see that phrase used in the New Testament, in Christ. And that's not to mention the other phrases that Paul uses that are synonymous with that phrase, in Christ. He might say, in the Lord, or in him, but all of those phrases Speak to us of this one idea, and it is your oneness, your unity with the Lord Jesus Christ. And again, this is what many theologians call the mystical union of the believer. Remember I told you there are three mystical unions taught in the Bible? The union of the Trinity. We can't fully comprehend that God is three in one. It's a fact. It's a reality. three persons, one God revealed in three persons, all co-equal, all God, but it's hard for us to fully grasp that. There's no analogy on earth that we could use that fully grasps that. There is the mystical union of the two natures of Christ. He's 100% God, 100% man, both of those natures dwelling concurrently in one person without one nature taking away from the other nature in any way. That's another mystical union. And then there is the mystical union of the believer to Jesus. And again, it's called mystical because we can't fully grasp it. It's a beautiful, glorious reality, but we can't fully comprehend it. Let me quote to you A. A. Hodge, the theologian. This is what he said, quote, talking about this mystical union. It so far transcends all of the analogies of earthly relationships and the intimacy of its communion and the transforming power of its influence and the excellency of its consequences, end quote. And that is so very true. There's no earthly analogy of any earthly relationship that we could use that really fully comprehends and expresses the glory and the reality of this union that you and I have with Jesus Christ. It far surpasses any earthly analogy. The Scottish pastor, theologian, James Stewart, called the union with Christ, quote, the heart of Paul's religion, end quote. So this is the heart of what Paul teaches in the New Testament. Everything kind of revolves around this, he said. John Murray went even further to say union with Christ is the central truth in the whole doctrine of salvation. And think about that, and that is so very true. A.W. Pink said the subject of spiritual union is the most important, the most profound and yet the most of any that is set forth in the sacred scripture. And yet, sad to say, there is hardly any which now is more generally neglected. Wow. And I think there's a sense in which that's that's true. So this is the organizing principle. Paul's theology we see it in Romans and Romans 5 he establishes it in Romans 6 This is the reason why we don't live in sin because we're united to Christ. God forbid How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? And this is why we Christians live a pure life In 1 Corinthians, when Paul was dealing with the issue of fornication, Paul said, how can you go out and live like that if you're a Christian? Because when you do that, you're bringing Christ wherever you go. You're so united to Christ that anyone who really fully comprehends that and understands that would never bring Christ into any filthy situation, any ungodly situation. If you fully comprehend your union with Jesus, you won't even think about that. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. And so every spiritual blessing that the believer has, it comes from being in Christ. Write down Ephesians 1.3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us, listen to this, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. You have all blessings, you have all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, and how do we get it? Christ, all the blessings we have come from this glorious union that we have with Christ. We are new creatures. If any man be in Christ, he is a what? New creature comes from being in Christ. Our salvation flows from it. Our completeness comes from that. Remember, Paul said that. Look again in chapter two, verse 10. Remember that? And ye are complete in him. And so now Paul is using this dominant concept, this glorious idea, to refute this false teaching that has risen up in the Colossian church. He's saying, you don't need anything else. These Gnostic teachers that say you need to add this to Christ or add that, Paul again brings up this beautiful idea that you are so united to Christ, you don't need anything else. Your union in Christ is all that you need. for spiritual completeness. He is our sanctification. All truth is in Christ. In Him are hidden all the treasures of what? Wisdom and spiritual knowledge. He is our wisdom. He is our encouragement. He is our fellowship. All of the spiritual gifts that we have come from that union that we have with Jesus Christ. And if you read Paul's letter, you realize everything Paul does, he does it in Christ. Paul said, I tell the truth in Christ, I lie not. Paul said, I rejoice in the Lord. Again, he's referring to that union. He hopes in Christ. He plans in Christ. He commands. He begs. He exhorts in Christ. And so it's all related to the union that we have. And by the way, did you know all of your future blessings come because of your union with Christ? When you die, you die in the Lord. And you will receive an inheritance because you are in Christ. And so all of those blessings that we have come from being in Christ. And so this is what Paul is establishing again. He is again reminding the believers that you have died with Christ and now you have risen with Christ. You're united to Him. You say, what sense? It's judicial. God sees you. He declares you to be in Christ. It's a judicial thing. It's a spiritual union. Again, we don't fully comprehend it. It's a vital union because all of our life comes from Christ. Remember, not too long ago, I was watching a NASA show. You ever have the NASA channel where they're showing astronauts in space, you know? Any of you ever watch that? Any other geeks in here besides me? The guys were spacewalking. It's kind of fascinating to me. And they were doing some repairs to a satellite. This was a few years ago, I was watching it. And the guys got outside the spacecraft, spacewalking. Can you imagine doing something like that? And they just kind of floated, but they weren't afraid because they were connected to the mother ship. That umbilical cord was connecting them. So wherever they went, they remained connected. There's a sense in which you are connected to Jesus Christ. You might be here on earth, but do you realize that you have a kind of a spiritual cord that connects you to Jesus Christ? And you are fully connected? You know what would happen to that spaceman if he cut the cord? He was a goner. Because all of his life, all of his oxygen, all of the pressure, everything he needed to survive, came through that union that he had. And friend, that's true of you spiritually. You're connected to Christ. This relationship is judicial. It is spiritual. It is vital. And Paul is reminding the believers, since you are risen with Christ. Now, here's the second idea. Not only the reminder, but notice, secondly, the responsibility. Look at the next thing. If, or since then, we could say, you're risen with Christ, here's the next thing. Watch this. Seek those things which are above. This is the command based on that. Seek is a present tense. Continually seek. It's a command. God is commanding all of us as believers, since we are united to Christ, to keep on continually seeking those things which are above. And simply put, You are to live out what you are positionally. Positionally, you're connected to Christ. Practically, you should seek heavenly things because Christ is already seated in heaven. You're connected to him. You should seek out those things, heavenly things. Ephesians 2, 6 says that Christ has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ. And by the way, that word is past tense, or we could say heiress. And that was a tense used by the Greeks when they wanted to say something had happened. It was irrevocable. It's never going to change. It is a fact. It's already done. Did you know it is a fact and it's irrevocable that you are already seated with Christ in heavenly places? You're already there. He said, now, wait a minute. I'm sitting right here at church. I know. But you're in heaven with Christ because you're so connected and Christ is there. So you're there. And it's already a fact. It's an irrevocable fact. That's why I can't understand anyone that says you can lose your salvation. Friend, you're already in heaven. You can't lose it. You're already there. And it's irrevocable. You can't change it. And so spiritually speaking, what the apostle Paul is saying is that you should be thinking about where you're seated already. You're already there. Your conscious mind should be occupied with Christ, as if you entered into the Holy of Holies in heaven, and the veil has been torn away, and you're there in the presence of God. The moment that you got saved, you were dead to sins, and that moment you were made alive together with Christ, and now Christ has ascended in heaven, and that's really where you are, and so you should keep your mind, your heart focused on those things. Albert Barnes explains Paul's logic like this. He says there was such a union between Christ and his people that in virtue of his death they become dead to sin and in virtue of his resurrection they now live the spiritual life and that therefore as Christ now lives in heaven they should live for heaven and fix their affections there. Now someone says how can we be here on earth and still be heavenly minded? That seems like a paradox to us. Does this mean that we should despise the things of this earth? No, it's not what he's saying there. John 80 said this, the pilgrim is not to despise the comforts he may meet with in the way, but he is not to tarry among them or leave them with regret. We thank God for these comforts, we thank God for these things, but they don't fully occupy our attention. What occupies our attention? Christ and heavenly things. And it really isn't that complicated. You say, what do you mean? Your inside lives in heaven and your outside lives here on earth. That's really what he's saying. Outwardly, I'm living here on earth, but inwardly, I'm in the heavenlies. I'm focused on heavenly things. I was reading about Robert Murray McShane, a great preacher. And in his memoirs that was written, there were some people that read that and they were evaluating him. And this is what one man said of Robert Murray McShane. He said, quote, The man whom I speak seems to have gotten up to the full height and that entered into the secret places of the holiness of God. Here's a man that knew Robert Murray McShane, and he said, This man just seemed to dwell in a different place than everybody else. He was here on earth, but his heart and his mind were all focused on God, so much so that he seemed to be living on a different plane. And there was a man that God used to touch the world greatly for him, because of the way he lived. And by the way, Jesus illustrated the same thing. In His whole earthly ministry, He was fully here on earth, but beloved, His mind and His heart was there with His Father, and every opportunity He had, He would go away until Mount of Olives or some other place where He would go and He would spend communion with the Father. Why? Because although on the earthly plane He dwelled His body here, His heart was still in heavenly places. That's an example for us to follow. I read one time of a Scottish preacher named John McNeill who liked to tell the story about an eagle that he caught. He caught this eagle when he was relatively young, and he put him in a chicken coop and had him tethered so he couldn't fly away. And he said it wasn't long until that eagle was acting just like all the chickens. Here was an eagle looking and acting like a chicken, clucking like a chicken. And he looked at that and he thought, how sad that is. And it reminded him of some Christians whom God has given you wings to soar high. And yet we still live in this world like chickens, spiritual chickens. You can make the application however you want to. But you understand the point. And so it's our responsibility, says Paul, to seek heavenly things. So we see the reminder. We see the responsibility. But here's number three. Write down the resource. The resource. Look again in verse 1. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, watch this, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. And you know why we could do this? You know why we could live this way? It's because Christ is there on the right hand of God. He's exalted at God's right hand. What does this mean to the believer? That Jesus is the fountain of all blessings. that He is the source of all blessings. You see, what that means is that God has entrusted in Christ all of the spiritual blessings. God has downloaded all of them in Christ. He's given them all to Christ. And since we're connected with Christ, and Christ is at the right hand of the Father, and the Father has entrusted to Him all authority and all resources and all spiritual blessings, that He is our resource. We're connected to Him. To go back to my analogy, An astronaut connected to the mothership, he never has to worry if the mothership is going to run out of resources for him. Because the mothership has everything that the astronaut needs. And as a believer, you're connected to Christ, and you never have to worry if Jesus is going to run out of resources for you. Or there's some need that's going to come up, or something that you desperately are seeking and want in Christ, and he's going to run out of it. He's never going to run out of it. He's seated at the right hand of God the Father. All honor, all praise, all glory, all exaltation, all resources, they have all been entrusted to Jesus Christ. And so, to put it in the context of the Gnostic false teachers in Colossae, Paul was saying, look, to the Colossian believers, you don't have to ascend through some angelic ladder. You don't need a bunch of secret passwords to get to God and to find resources in God. There's only one password and it's called Christ. There's only one mediator and he's Christ. And in him, you have everything. Now here's the fourth thought. We see the reminder and then the responsibility and the resource. But then, let me give you number four. Here's the reason. The reason. Why are we to seek heavenly things? The reason, look at verse 3. For ye are dead, And your life is hid with Christ in God. Now, again, what is Paul doing here? Again, he is reiterating what he has already said in verse 1 and in chapter 2 and in other places, our union with Christ. He said, ye are dead. Dead to what? You're dead to the world. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. Remember, believer, we are crucified to this world. We're dead to this world system. And the only thing that we glory in is we glory in the cross. We glory in Christ. Paul said, I don't want to glory in anything except Christ. I don't want to glory in anything except the cross. And the word glory here, I think the best English equivalent would be obsessed. Paul is obsessed with the cross. He was obsessed with Christ. And so Paul said, you're crucified to this old system. You're crucified to this old world. You're dead. And now notice the next phrase. And your life is hid with Christ in God. You're hid with Christ in God. Now, someone says, what does that mean? Several things. Number one, I think it means that we're all wrapped up with Jesus. You say, what does that mean? I don't know. We're all wrapped up with Jesus. You're so united. You're just wrapped up with him. And he's wrapped up with you. We're so connected that when God the Father sees Christ, he sees Jerry. And when he sees when I come before the throne and when he sees Jerry, he sees Jesus. Because we're together, we're one. We're wrapped up together. My life is hid with Christ or hidden in Christ with God. And so I'm connected, I'm wrapped up with Jesus, and so are you. But here's another thought, and that is that my life and your life being in Christ is concealed from the world. They don't really get us. Do you know that? The world doesn't get Christians. They don't really see us. They don't really understand us. You know why? Because there's a sense in which who I really am now, my standing, my identity in Jesus, the world will never get that. It's concealed from them. And there may be a wordplay here, the word hidden, crypto, where we get the word cryptic. This was a favorite word of the false teachers. They would call their wisdom hidden in their book, the Apocrypto. The book, they said all of their wisdom was hidden in this book. And now Paul is using this word. I think he's doing a wordplay here. He's saying that you Gnostic, you say all of your wisdom, all of the treasures of your wisdom are hidden in a book. All the treasures of our wisdom are in Christ and we're hidden in Christ. That's what he's saying. We're all in Christ, we're hidden there. And so there's a sense then in which we are concealed from the eyes of the world. Oh, they see my outward man, they see who I am on the outside, but they don't have any comprehension about my inward man. They don't have any comprehension about that I'm connected to Christ in a way that they will never fully grasp or understand. And so there's a sense in which my life is hidden with Christ in God. And we're hidden, we're concealed from the world. And by the way, that's just the way Jesus was. Do you think that the world fully understood who Jesus was when he walked this earth? No, there's a sense in which his identity, all of whom he was, was hidden. And there's a sense in which that's true for the believer. But I also think this means is that we're secure in Christ. Again, for those who teach you can lose your salvation. You just need to look at these verses a little bit closer here because you are so connected. You are so hidden in Christ that you can't fall away. That's impossible. And the devil can't get me. You know why? I'm hidden in Christ. He can't find me. I'm hidden in the Lord Jesus. And so he can't make me fall away. Now, let me give you the last thing. We see the reminder. The responsibility, the resource, the reason, but then the revelation. Look again at verse 4. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. And here is the, we're building on this idea here. The world might not really fully comprehend who I am because there's a sense in which I'm concealed. I'm hidden in Christ. But guess what? One of these days, the world is going to fully comprehend me. You know why? Because when Jesus Christ comes back, guess what? You and I are going to be with him. And when Jesus Christ is revealed in all of His glory, guess who's going to be standing there next to Him? Me first. No, you and me. All of us. All of us are going to be there connected with Christ. And that's the idea. They may not recognize us now. They may not understand that we live in the heavenlies, but someday they're going to know. Because when Jesus appears, we're going to be with them. And the Bible speaks about that in Revelation 19. We will appear with him when he comes back. Remember, we'll be in white robes and white horses, and he's going to come back out of heaven with his army and his angels, and we're going to be there with him, and we're going to be revealed. Barclay wrote this. He said, The day is coming when Christ will return in glory, and then the Christian whom no one recognized will share that glory, and it will be plain for all to see. And that's what Paul's saying. Lightfoot says this. It is a beautiful statement. He says, quote, the veil which now shrouds your higher life from others and even partly from yourselves will then be withdrawn and the world which persecutes, despises, ignores you now will then be blinded by the dazzling glory of your revelation. Isn't that great? I live by faith, but soon I'll live by sight. And we will be revealed with Christ. We will share in the glory of Christ. But notice this other phrase in verse four. I don't want to pass this by. When Christ, watch this, who is our what? Our life. He's our life. It doesn't say Christ gives life. He is life. He is our life. And again, this all goes back to that principle that you're so united, you're so one with Christ, that Christ is our life. That's our position. But my question is, is that your practice? Can you honestly say that Christ is my life? He is my life practically. He's the center of my life. He's the focus of my life. For many, if they were honest, and I'm not talking about people here, I'm just talking about Christianity in general, it just seems like there's such a shallowness that for many people, I don't know if they can really honestly say Christ is my life. For some people, it's more their possessions are their life, or other things are their life. I read this week about six armed gunmen that broke into a bank in London, and they stole valuables, more than $7 million worth of valuables. They stole deposit boxes. And when the bank was reporting to the people that what was stolen, one lady shrieked and she said, my whole life was in that deposit box. And that's a sad statement. But for some, it's a reality. The question is, is Christ your life? Is he the center of your life? That should be true of every believer that believes in the preeminence of Jesus Christ, that believes in the sufficiency of Christ. Christ should be the focus of our life. He should be the center of our life. And let me close by telling you about a man who I think lived in the heavenlies. His name was Hudson Taylor, and Hudson Taylor was so burdened with China And you know what burdened him about China? His biographers tell us that he lived so much in the presence of Jesus Christ that he began to feel the great heartbeat that Jesus had for lost souls. And the burden that he had for China was really the burden that Christ had for China, because he lived so much in the heavenlies, as it were, that he felt like Christ felt. And his biographer mentioned, he said he found, this is what Hudson Taylor said, he said he found singing hymns in a satisfied congregation in Brighton, England to be intolerable. In other words, he would go to church and he would be with people who seemed to be so satisfied with the status quo and never really had any burden for the lost world that he couldn't endure being in that atmosphere anymore. And then he goes on to say, he looked around pew upon pew, prosperous bearded merchants, shopkeepers, visitors, demure wives in bonnets, and scrub children trained to hide their impatience. He said, the atmosphere of smug piety sickened him, and he ceased and he left. And later, this is what his own words, this is what Hudson Taylor said. He said, quote, unable to bear the sight of a congregation of a thousand and more Christian people rejoicing in their own security while millions were perishing for lack of knowledge. He said, I wandered out on the sands alone in great spiritual agony. So he went out onto the beach and he prayed to God that God would send him to a place where people were in such desperate need. for the gospel. He prayed that God would send him to China. And then he prayed that God would send him laborers, 24 laborers to go with him to China. You say, how does a man get to the point where he's willing to leave everything and go to the foreign field and sacrifice? You know how? Although his body might live here on the earth, his heart and his soul lives in the heavenlies. And he sees things from Christ's perspective. And he's focused on Christ. And that's the way I believe we are to live. That's the way we are to conduct our lives. And really, it's like the hymn that we already heard tonight that John and Sherry sang. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. That's what it is to set your affection on things above. Let's bow for prayer tonight. Lord, we just thank You again for the Word of God that is so clear to us. Thank You, Lord, for dying for us, being buried and rising again, and being there in heaven exalted. And thank You, Lord, most of all, that we are through the power of the Holy Spirit in some way that we can't fully grasp or understand. That we're united. We're there with You. We're one with You. And Lord, I pray that the full reality of this oneness that we have with Christ would so captivate our hearts and our minds that we can't help but do as the Apostle Paul told us, to set our affections on things above. And although our bodies might live here on this earth and we may do the things necessary here, our heart, our soul will be so focused upon Christ and heaven and spiritual things and eternal things that we don't live the way others live. We live with eternity in view. And we're so captivated by the need of this world, the loss that are around us, that we can't be satisfied just to do nothing. Give us the right heavenly mindedness, Lord, so that we can be effective for you and your kingdom. Lord, that's my prayer. That's what I want for my life. May I be able to fully say Christ is my life. Like the Apostle Paul said, for me to live is Christ. Lord, help us all to say that, not just as words, but to mean it fully in our heart. And so speak to hearts, Lord. Use your word. And deal in hearts, Lord, as only you can and know how to. Honor your word, Lord, we pray. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.