Oh, come let us adore him. If you have your Bibles, we'd like to read with us this evening. We're gonna begin reading from the third chapter of the book of Colossians. We'll begin reading verse one of this chapter. Just read a few verses here. Go to several other places, the Lord willing. Try to get the thought that the Lord has placed upon our heart this evening. I am thankful for each one. God has blessed to be able to come and to be in the service. If you would, bow with me in a word of prayer before I begin the reading. Dear holy God, as I bow once again this day before thy throne, I thank you, dear God, for the blessings of life. I thank you for sending your son into this world, that he came willingly and he paid the sin debt of the world on the cross of Calvary. I thank you, dear God, for salvation that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, and I'm thankful that your salvation is to all mankind, to whosoever will. Dear God, I pray tonight, if there's any here that's never trusted Christ, that this could be the good night that they could put their faith and trust in Jesus. Dear Father, I pray for the request that had been made here this evening, for I know, dear God, there's many people that's facing different things in life, have different burdens, and you know about them, we just ask you to bless and to keep in your will. And help us, dear God, that we can say thy will be done in our lives. Bless me now as I stand, dear God. Lead me by your spirit. Give me the word you'd have me to speak, that those words could bring glory and honor to your name. For it's in Jesus' name I humbly pray, for he is worthy. Amen. Book of Colossians chapter three, verse one. If you 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 you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Now I'm gonna read those three verses of scripture. If you read this chapter, you go on down, as the Apostle Paul was writing to the Church of Colossians, He's told him some things to mortify, that means to bury, to get out of your life. Some things to put off and some things to put on as a child of God. And that you might could go through all these different things and individually that what we need to get rid of as a child of God. And when I think of things that we, you're getting rid of one thing and then replace it with something else. He's telling you things to replace it with. In the letter to the Hebrew people, in chapter 12, I think it was the first verse of the chapter, he told us that we to, we're foreseeing what could pass about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every weight that these sins which do us so evil beset us. And let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Some things we got to get rid of. That they weigh us down in life. Things we get on our mind. And I know our minds are busy. Every one of us tonight, if we was to stop and just begin that we can get weighted down. And notice that word, we get weighted down. Well, he didn't ask a question, but he's making a statement. If you didn't be risen with Christ, what he's telling me here that you've been saved by the blood of Jesus. You put your faith in your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. You can answer that to yourself. I can answer that to myself. I know that I have put my faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, there's some things that when we're saved, we're a baby in Christ, we're on the milk, but there comes a time then that we've got to start getting some meat and we start growing in the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the problems with the Church of Corinth was, in the third chapter of 1 Corinthians, he said they're bathed in Christ. That they wasn't able to partake of the meat yet, they hadn't grown. And he said, I fed you with milk and not with meat. That there comes a time that we begin to grow and we begin to learn about Christ. And Here he said that we ought to seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of the throne of God. In verse two he said, set your affections on things above. Things above is up here. There's a fella that goes to church down at Lummons and Rogedale Lee, you'd have to know him. Every Sunday morning he comes in and says, Rogedale, how you doing? He says, I'm on the top shelf. He said, with the snap beans. That I guess somewhere in his life they must have put the snap beans way up high. But a lot of times you think about it, you put the things that's most important up here high. If you would make a list of things and the most important things, they're gonna be high on your list, aren't they? Well, that's when you think about what he's saying here that we're to be looking up then, aren't we? You know, we live in a world and I don't want to just drag nobody down, but just how far down things have gone just in my lifetime. That, you know, things are happening that we never thought would happen in this world. I can get sometimes pretty plain spoken. Who would have ever thought 40 years ago that in the United States of America that this country would allow men to marry men and women to marry women. It wasn't going to happen. And that's just one illustration. And a lot of other things that you wonder where people's minds are. I don't remember what day it was, this week, I think it was this week. It happened, it might have been last week, but when the CEO of the insurance company got killed in New York City. And I know there's a lot of people in them big corporations, there's a lot of bad things probably. But people have been glorying that that man got killed. Look, I don't know, I think the paper said he had a wife, he could have had children. That's nothing to glory, and that ain't the way to fix a problem. And you know I think about the man in New York that went to trial for They accused him of killing the fellow on the train that was just He was an idiot I Mean that should have never went to trial but I I Don't think the man would have messed with the fellas unless he's doing what he's doing I that it can become discouraging. But what we've got to do tonight is to seek those things above. I believe it's in the book of Luke. I remember it's chapter 20, 21 somewhere about there where Cross was telling the disciples, you can find the same basic scriptures in the book of Matthew. I think it'd be the 24th chapter, if my memory serves me correct, when they asked about the temple and tell us about your sacket coming out of that quotation. He began to give them what we call just general signs. In the book of Lucas, he's telling them those things. He said, and when you see these things come to pass, he said, lift up your eyes, I believe, or your head. Now, let me try and get that correct. in verse chapter 21, and when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your head for your redemption draws nigh. And so, we know there's some things in this world that is going to take place. I don't get upset about the book of Revelations, it don't bother me. I don't, worry about those things, I am concerned about people that don't know Christ. We've seen a lot of things being fulfilled and coming to pass in the world that we live in, and I think this is some of what he's talking about. Instead of us getting all bent out of shape, you know, a lot of people, I've talked to people over the years, and you know, you got these people, they call them preppers, When the end comes and, you know, they got all this food stored up and this ammunition stored up and, you know, we're gonna be able to make it through all this. I talked to one fellow several years back, I said, well, do you know Jesus Christ? He said, oh yeah. I said, well, what you worried about? I mean, we're not gonna be around. And plus the Lord promised us he'd never leave us nor forsake us. He's going to take care of us. We might have to eat possums. I don't know. But I don't plan on being here during the tribulation time. But what I'm saying is that people, they'll get all bent out of shape about things that's happening in the world. I do too. I mentioned just a few things. But what we ought to be doing is, like he said in his scriptures, we see these things come to pass, then look up. We need to be looking up, not down. What happens when we begin to look down is that we lose sight of what is really important. We forget about what's above. And we let the cares of life, you know, in the seed. So he talked about how some fell among the thorns He explained that the chariots of this life begin to choke out the Word. I believe that happens to people sometimes. Our mind is off God. Our mind is off the Lord Jesus Christ. Our mind is off the very Word of God. And we forget about the very promises of God and what He said. And it can be discouraging. And look, a person can get depressed. And, you know, what we need to do sometimes is kind of get our mind off the world and get our mind on things above. Where Christ said it, that the right hand is the throne of God. How can I do that? Well, I want to look at one of the greatest examples of someone that their mind was on things above. And that was the Lord Jesus Christ. He had his affections set on things above. He had his mind set on doing the will of God. And we said, set your affections, he's talking about your mind there, on things above. People said, well, you know, he was the son of God, he was. But he lived in a fleshly body just like every one of us. We forget sometimes that he probably woke up every once in a while with a bag cold. He could have been sick. He knew what it was like to be thirsty. I'm gonna say this and I think I can say it scripturally. I don't think none of us has ever been as thirsty as Christ has been. I don't think nobody here has ever been as hungry as the Lord Jesus Christ was when he come out of that wilderness. We miss one meal, we think we're gonna starve to death. Let it be an hour late for dinner. Work with a bunch of men and you say, look, we can't stop the day at 12 o'clock, we gotta go to 1245. Oh man, I'm gonna die. I gotta have something to eat. I understand sometimes that some people, you know, diabetics might need to have something to eat. I tell that bunch I work with, I said, that's the reason I carry the blue bottles. I got Vienna's and I'll share it with you. I got some peanut butter crackers. When I got starved, I'll share what I got with you. But we don't know what it was like, what Christ went through on this earth. Bible says he come to his owner and his owner received him not. You talking about rejection? We get rejected a little bit and man, my bottom lip drops hit the floor. Somebody said something a little out of the way to us. We don't know how to take it. When he was dying for the sins of the world, they reviled him. Christ left us an example. His mind, his thoughts, his affections was on doing the will of the Father. Peter said in his first letter that In chapter two, verse 21, for even here and too were you called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps. You should follow his steps. See, the problem, the reason I don't always follow his steps is because I quit looking above. I quit watching him. And when we quit watching him, we become not lost with the soul, but we become, you might say to everybody, just lost in this world. I don't know which way to turn, where to go. You know, if you're going to follow somebody, you got to keep your eyes on them. Here several weeks ago, maybe a month and a half ago, we got a crew of men. They went up to North Mississippi doing some drilling. We got a boy that worked with them. His name's Dave. I don't know Dave's last name. I've been working with him a couple of years. We just call him Dave. Dave's a little simple. He can't, I don't think he can help it. But they went and done one job. They're leaving that job, they're fixing to go to another, but they pulled, all three of them pulled in gas stations, three different vehicles. Dave, we're going inside, we're gonna use the restroom, we're gonna get a cold drink, maybe something to snack on, and then we're going to the other job. He said, I'm not going in. I'm gonna set the truck, okay? Now Dave got to follow these men, their vehicles. So they get in their vehicles, they crank them up, and they take off down the highway. And I look in the rear view mirror and there's no Dave. Dave is in his truck on his phone on TikTok or Facebook. He's not paying attention when they come out. But the second Dave called them panicking. Where y'all at? Scared to death. They said, Dave, we're gonna pull over. You come down the highway. We're gonna stop and wait on you. They said he was scared to death. This boy's in his thirties. I understand his situation. I'm not making fun of him, but what I'm saying is we do that a lot in life. We're not paying attention. We take our eyes off Jesus. We're like Peter when we do, we begin to sink. He left us an example that we should follow in his steps. If you want to keep your affections on Christ, then you've got to follow Christ. He left us an example. He was to turn with me to the Old Testament, to the book of Ruth. You remember when Naomi and her husband went down to the land of the Moabites and down there while she's down there and her husband dies and her two sons and Mary Moabite daughters and then the two sons died. She got the message of how things was back home. She decides I'm going home. She starts to leave, the two daughter-in-laws is going with her. And she stops. She said, look, y'all don't want to go with me. Y'all need to go back home to your people. And she explains her reason. Well, one of them, if you read the first chapter, verse 14, they lifted up their voice and wept again, and Oprah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth claved unto her. You know, the Bible says when you think about somebody claving, that's the reason it says that a man, when he gets married, he's supposed to clave unto his wife. There's a bond there, Brother Brandon. There's love there. And she said, behold, thy sister-in-law has gone back unto her people and to her gods. It turns out after thy sister-in-law, see, notice she didn't just go back to her people, she went back to her gods. That's something different about Ruth. And God don't mean nothing to her no more. And people don't mean nothing to her no more. She's got something better. And she said, behold, and Ruth said, entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee. Where thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge, and thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. She said, look, I won't follow you. I'm going to stay close to you. And that's what she done. And God blessed her. Because through this lady, through this lineage, one day came the Lord Jesus Christ. She stayed close. She followed. Her affections was on her mother-in-law. That's where her mind was when she come back into this country. When she goes out into those fields to glean behind those reapers, She's not just thinking about herself, but she's thinking about her mother-in-law that can't get out there and do it. So if we're gonna seek those things which are above to do that, then we're gonna have to follow Christ. And he left us an example that we can follow in his steps. In the book of, Luke, Jesus makes a statement. Let me find it. It's also in the book of Matthew, also in the book of Mark. That's three different books that he's got these scriptures in. It must be important. But if you was to go to the ninth chapter of the book of Luke, And verse 23, he said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. So to do that, I got to deny myself this fleshly body that I live in, these fleshly desires. The lust of the flesh, the pride of the life, You know, the eyes and we got to deny ourselves to the things we see. And we got to keep our sight on the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're going to be looking above. One of the greatest tragedies that happened to saved people is when they quit looking above and they start looking out here. That's what happened a lot. Well, I was the same man. But he cast his side on the well-watered plains of Jordan. He was no longer looking up. He's looking out this way. And he pitched his tent for Solomon and Martha. The Bible tells us that that righteous man's soul was vexed from day to day by the things which he saw and heard. He's no longer looking at Jesus. He's not looking up, he's not looking above. When we quit looking at Christ and we look at everything going on around us and how bad it is, how bad it is for me. And my heart goes out to the people that's in trouble. But we let the world begin to choke out the word of God. And as he's told in those scriptures in the seed sower, and we become unfruitful, not bearing no fruit. You see that God wants us to bear fruit. And the only way we're gonna do that is following him and keeping our sight and looking above. The book of John, 15th chapter. Verse one, Jesus said, I am the true vine. My father is the husband. Every branch in me that bears not fruit, he taketh away, and every branch that bears fruit, he purchased it, that it may bring forth more fruit. That's what happens to us in our life when our faith is tested, we're purged. That it may bring forth more fruit. Now you're clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine. No more can you except you abide in me. We got to abide in Christ if we're gonna bear fruit. If you'd go to the book of Galatians, I think it's gonna be about the fourth or fifth chapter, if my memory serves me correct, I'll turn to it. Been talking about the spirit and the flesh, and he tells us about the works of the flesh. He gives him a list of things. In verse 22, he said, but the fruit of the spirit. Am I looking above? Am I following Christ? Have I set my affections on things above and not on things below? I can look at my life and my fruit. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy. Look at your life, peace. long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with affections and the lust. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vainglory and provoking one another, envying one another. Let's set our affections, if we've been risen with Christ, Get your attention off the Lord Jesus Christ. Keep your sight, your mind, your affection, that's your mind, on the Lord Jesus Christ. May God bless you. This is the thought and the message the Lord placed on our heart. We're going to ask for a verse or a song.