door neighbors there and we're thrilled to have him with us his sweet wife you come on brother Vic I think we've got thank you everything wired for sound there you go yeah thanks thanks Brad I appreciate you thank you it was an afternoon in early summer and there was a strange quiet on the battlefield The air was balmy and had a breath of garden in it. By some grotesque miracle, a bird sang somewhere near at hand. On the firing step, with his rifle lying in the groove in the parapet, stood a private soldier in field gray, his uniform stained with mud and blood. On his face, so young, yet strangely marked with the lines of war, was a wishful, faraway expression. He was enjoying the bright sunshine. and the quiet of this strange lull in the firing. The heavy guns were silent and there was no sound to break the eerie stillness. Suddenly a butterfly fluttered into view and landed on the ground almost at the end of his rifle. It was a gorgeous creature. Wings like gold leaves splashed with a vivid red, swaying in the breath of spring. As the war-weary youngster watched that butterfly, he was no longer a private in field gray, but he was a boy once again, running through the fields knee-deep in clover and buttercups and daisies. That strange visitor to the front line trench recalled to him the days of his boyhood when he had collected butterflies as a hobby. It spoke to him of days of peace. It was a symbol of the lovelier things in life, an emblem of the eternal, A reminder that somewhere there was color and beauty and fragility and perfume and gardens. He forgot all about the enemy a few hundred yards across no man's land. He forgot the danger and privation and suffering of a young soldier. He forgot everything as he watched this gorgeous creature at the front of the battle. With all the hunger of his soul, with a resurrection of dreams and desires that he thought were gone forever, he reached out for this gorgeous creature. His fingers moved slowly and cautiously. He did not want to frighten this visitor, but in showing one kind of caution, he forgot another. The butterfly was just beyond his reach, and so he must stretch, forgetting that watchful eyes were waiting for a target. He brought himself out with infinite care and patience, until now he could almost feel. the silk in the wings. And suddenly, there was a crack of a sniper's rifle, the stretching fingers relaxed, and the hand fell flat on the ground. For the private soldier in field gray, the war was over. An official bulletin issued that afternoon said, all is quiet. on the Western Front, and for that private soldier in field gray, it was a silence that the heavy guns would never disturb. There's always a risk to the reach in what we do in life. The compass needle looks for the North Pole. The eagle looks for the high turbulence as it goes to the sky. The river is moving its way down to the bottom of the ocean. When I invite your attention to Colossians chapter number three, and verse number one. Would you stand please, would you mind, in respect to the text. And Paul is going to give us some admonition as pastors, as church members, as full-time workers. He's going to say, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of the Father, set your affection on things above and not on things of the earth for your dead and your life is hid with Christ in God when Christ is who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in glory and on account of that then he says he gives us a command mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry, for which thing's sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience, into which you also, talking to believers, also walked in some time when you lived in them, but now you have put off all of these, wrath, anger, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds, and you have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." And then he said, there's no racial barriers. There is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, but Christ is all and in all, and you may be seated. So, right at the very beginning of this, he says, since you're risen with Christ, if ye then be risen with Christ, now you would want to know, and I checked this out, I asked Mr. and Mrs. Google this afternoon if they would verify this, and this is actually a first class condition, which means, on account of the fact that you're risen with Christ, if it simply says, as a first-class condition, that what comes after that is a statement of fact and is true as sure as God made little green apples and big brown leaves. And so he says, since you're risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of the Father. That ought to be a continual work for all of us as believers. It's not something that's a part-time job. All of us are Christians 24-7. I go to the gym every morning. I get up at 3.05, I kiss my wife goodbye so I can meet a friend at 3.30, and invariably she'll say, Vic, is that you? You'll get that in just a few moments. We've been married almost 55 years now. She has been, I've been trying to figure out what I'm gonna do. But the issue is, the issue is, he simply said, listen, on account of the fact that you're risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, and the parsing of the verb in the text simply says that is a full-time job for all of us. And so in our churches, it's very difficult for us to get a hold of the truth from the word of God that we should be seeking him all of our life. We've allowed our congregations to become the sovereign of what we do in worship services. My son talks about this all the time. He says, we're evangelizing people that are already believers. We had somebody that came to church Sunday. I always preach from the King James Version of the Bible. Sometimes I'll go home on Sunday morning and my wife over here, she will say, Vic, what translation were you reading from? I said, well, I was reading from the King James Version and she said, you need to slow your mouth down. because you're going a little bit too fast. I'm just saying. So somebody comes by Sunday morning and they said, we're so glad to be here because you're an independent Baptist. I said, don't forget, independent Baptist is Baptist with an attitude. And she said, well, I'm glad about that. She said, I know that you preach from the King James version of the Bible. And I said, look, I have 40. hours of post-grad Greek. I read my Greek New Testament every morning when I get up. I know why I preach from the King James Version of the Bible. I don't need somebody that's going to come in and join us. But we're evangelizing her, so she thinks we're like her. We don't even know if she's a believer. She could be as lost as a skunk. But the bottom line on it is we have a tendency to forget our responsibility and our duty. You remember David Welch years ago in his book, With God in the Wasteland, said the problem in our church is is not insufficient organization, inadequate technology, or antiquated music, but that God rests too inconsequentially in our lives. When we talked about revival this morning, and the guys that addressed this, almost every one of these guys this morning, talked about the issue that we have in understanding our relationship with God. So Paul solves it all for us. He says, look, I want you to know that your full-time job continually is to seek Him. Now, I believe that God wrote the Bible. Do you believe that? 2 Peter says that holy men of old moved as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Their personality is there, but in the manuscript that's finished, you can see God saying, listen, this is what you need to talk about Isaiah. This is what I want to emphasize Jeremiah. This is what I want to emphasize Mr. Moses. So in Genesis, he's the seed of woman. In Exodus, he's the Passover lamb. In Leviticus, he's the perfect priest. In Numbers, he's a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. In Deuteronomy, he's a prophet like unto Moses. So there's no question about it that God wrote the book. I like what Brother Petty said this morning. When we get up, our people want to hear from the Word of God. And so in Nehemiah chapter number 8, what a great reference this morning that simply says, listen, we ought to erect an opportunity to spend time live on stage. You can't appreciate me if I'm not live on stage. You've got to have live on stage, but now then, rather than the cloths representing our churches, we've got donuts and hot coffee that we can get in the recliner and watch anybody that you wanted to on a Sunday morning. Charles Stanley is in our area, Andy's in our area, disconnected from the Old Testament. But the issue is, you can watch all of these guys, the music will be the very best. The preaching will be the very best, and so I can drink my coffee and eat my donut. I don't eat donuts because they make me hyper, if you can imagine that. But the bottom line on it is, we've made ourselves comfortable. And the political world likes that. They like it that they pushed you back from the table. You may know this, but Tom Raines, who at one time was the head of Lifeway Bookstores, I think he may still be involved with them, I'm sure, pastored for 25 years. And as COVID got started, and later on when it was about a year and a half or two years deep, he said, here's the problem, about 35% of our churches in America closed after March the 13th, 2020, and about 35, almost all of our churches are down about that same number, some more than that. We're running about 30% of what we did before COVID. I love COVID, don't you? Because we can date so many things on March the 13th, 2020. I started cleaning my garage March the 13th, 2020. I'm still waiting for that to be done. But the bottom line on it is that they pushed us away from the table. They've said that the God that you serve is insignificant in culture. Paul said, look, I want you to know all of your life you ought to be seeking Him. I find myself, you can't tell that I'm hyper, but I find myself. up early in the morning, reading, trying to get closer to him. I find myself in the Word, trying to spend some time getting closer to him. I did not go to seminary and spend some time taking Greek and still trying to rehearse vocabulary and parse verbs and split infinities and dangle participles, for those of you that are in English class. I didn't spend time doing that so that I could go back and read somebody else's material. I like all of these authors. I have 2,500 copies, hard copies, in my library, not counting what's on my computer. I can read those guys and it's wonderful, but there's nothing like reading this book. And so Paul simply said, listen, you've got to understand your full-time job is to seek Christ. Your full-time job is to understand your position, if ye then be risen with Christ, on account of the fact that you're risen with Christ. Seek those things which are above where Christ sits at the right hand of the father and then he says set your affection Would you underline that little word affection in verse number two and would you go down to verse number five and look at? inordinate affection There is a right time to love, and there's a wrong time to love. Now, I'm naive enough to believe that humanity's conscience understands what Romans chapter 1 says, or the Bible is not true. In fact, Paul said writing to the church at Rome, they get into doing these sleazy, ungodly, sensual activities, and their conscience They have forsaken, and finally God has given them over to a reprobate mind. It should not be a surprise for you and me that the world lives like it does because they're ungodly, they're evil. They are like you and me before we were believers. And so he says, your life is hid with Christ in God. I heard a Hebrew scholar say one time that when Paul writes verse number three and four, he is thinking of that Old Testament arc of the covenant that was about 4 feet long, technically it was about 45 inches long and about 27 inches wide and about 27 inches deep. Hebrews chapter number 9 says, verse number 4 I think it is, he says there are three things that are inside of this. There is the pot of manna, that was simply a sign of God sustaining Israel as they went through the wilderness, simply saying, look, God can take care of everything that you need. He is a sovereign. He is bountiful in everything that He gives us, isn't He? Number two, the law was there just to remind them that if you break one part of the law, you've broken it all. And so Moses simply says, that's going to be placed in there. And then number three, Aaron's rod that budded, they placed all three of those down in there, and then he put this gigantic golden lid. On top of all of this, probably took two or three priests to carry this thing because it was carved out of acacia wood and then covered with solid gold. It would have been phenomenally heavy. They placed this on this, and so now then, because of the mercy seat, that is there. You could not see Aaron's rod. You could not see the pot of manna. You could not see the law. It was hidden from everything except the eyes of God. And so Paul said, your life is hid with Christ in God. Isn't that a phenomenal statement to understand who we are as believers in that relationship? And then Paul says, let me get practical for you. And it's a command, the word mortify. is simply this word, it's actually the word nekros, it talks about dead people. And so he says, I want you to mortify, it is an imperative by the way, I want you to mortify therefore the deeds of the flesh and so your members, your body, And then he says, he starts with the sin and moves backward from the sin to the thought pattern. Now you're going to say, when I look at this particular list of sins, that's not my problem. I'm not dealing with any kind of immorality. Would you look at this? But he moves backward from the sin, the very sin, to the thought that carried you to that sin. So he says, for fornication. uncleanness, filthy minds, inordinate affection, you've got improper attention, you're falling in love with the wrong area, in the wrong area of your life, and then he said evil concupiscence and covetousness. All of that has to do with the emotion and the attitude that brought us to commit the sin. So let me dial your number if you haven't heard that yet. 1 Peter chapter number 2 and verse number 1. So now we're going to talk about you and me, because all of us are going to say, I think probably on an evening like this, we're not dealing with immorality, but God sees some sins that we see as good standing in our Baptist churches as just as repulsive. as sins of immorality. So would you look at 1 Peter 2, verse number one, and he says this, wherefore, laying aside all malice, you remember what the judge said? He killed him with malice and forethought? The attitude. So he says, malice and guile. The school that I pastor had a rat that came into the cafeteria last year. It was early in the morning. It was there unintentionally. The students were holding the door open, letting teachers come in, and if I'm lying, I'm fine, 7.30, here comes the biggest rat you've ever seen. Went into the cafeteria, hid under the ice machine, they tried to shoo it out, it wouldn't leave, and they called me because I lived in Detroit and I'm a master executioner. I'm lying, that ain't true at all. But the issue, although I do know some guys that will take care of you for $150 and for $200 you won't feel it. But the bottom line, I got a trap and I put it under one of our refrigerators and every three or four days I would check it and finally, the third Friday after I placed it there, we killed it. I did it with guile. I put peanut butter, crunchy, that every rat loves. He thought he was coming for lunch, and I killed him. Bloodied his nose, popped his eyes out. I threw him in the trash. So would you look at verse number one. He says, malice and guile. You're deceitful and you know it. You've lied and you're aware of it. You're not going to tell the truth. Would you look at the next word? Hypocrisies. Remember the Saturday after matinee? I'm old enough to remember that. They had the mask of the hypocrites. One mask was smiling. The other mask was sad. You never knew what the guy was doing behind the mask because the mask of the hypocrite said he could be happy. He could be sad. And so he said, hypocrisies. And envies, I was reading a sermon by Spurgeon the other day and Spurgeon said, I have never had anyone come forward with the sin of envy. We don't do that. I want your hair. because it's always looking good. Yeah, that's what it is. But so he says, he says envies and evil speakings. Now someplace in that list, and there's no list in the Bible that's complete, but Paul simply says, and then Peter simply says, listen, if you're not dealing with this sexual sin, you're probably dealing with one of these others. And so the fact of the matter is we have to deal with those in our Baptist churches and in the life of believers. We'll get shot by friendly, friendly enemies or friendly fire, they would call it. I'm old enough to know that when we get into a church conflict, every side, every side claims God as their partner. We do that. And so Peter says, listen, you've got to understand who you are and what you're doing. I've got to hurry. So he says in verse number nine, lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man, one-time situation, all of us, before we were pastors, before we were Sunday school teachers, before we were missionaries, we put off the old man, or you shouldn't be pastoring or teaching a Sunday school class, and then he says, you have put off the old man and you put on the new man. It's this transition that goes on. The word in the text is so wonderful. It's the word enduo. It simply says that I put on a new garment. I took off an old garment and I put on a new garment. Would you look at verse number still, and he says, which is renewed in knowledge after the hymn that created him. So we come into the family of God as new people. We have taken off the old, we put on the new. I'm reluctant to do this because you'll see my emaciated body, but when we take off the old man, it's as simple as taking off our coat. And it's, by the way, if at the risk of hurting your feelings, it's actually Aorist tense, happens one time. You don't have to take it off again and again. You're born again. And so he says you're born again. But then he says you're going to put on the new man, which is a phenomenal transition that we go through as believers. And so when Paul writes to the church at Corinth in chapter number 15, And verse number 51, 52, and 53, he says, look, here's what I want you to know. You're going to take off incorruptibility, or corruptibility, and you're going to put on, same word, injuo. You're going to put on incorruption. You're going to get rid of mortality. And you're going to put on immortality. It's going to be wonderful. We'll go through this phenomenal change that is unbelievable. Do you remember when you were 20? When you were strong and powerful, I was reading an article the other day and they said that you are your very best look when you're 30. Now, that was just like the other day for me. But I mean, that's tough, isn't it? When you turn 40 and all of a sudden you realize this is going to be a pretty tough trip. When you turn 50, we have a friend in our church that celebrated his 98th birthday today. He was chairman of our deacons years ago, the most godly guy in all of the world. And he said the other day, I'm going to go through a change. When you're 98, you want to go through the change. You put off incorruption, corruption, you put on incorruption. And then he says, then is brought to pass the saying that is written, death where is thy sting, grave where is thy victory. Now you may have heard me tell this before, and if you did, too bad, you're going to hear it again. I'm a sharecropper's son. There were 12 of us, 10 of us lived to adulthood. My little brother Alvin and I used to play out in the fields when he was four, I was six, he was five, I was seven. And the clover fields, early June and even to early July, the clover, our 40 acre field by our house was about as big as your thumb, the clover. It was pink, it was gorgeous, it was phenomenal at how beautiful it was. And we were out playing in the clover field. We got this wild idea. We're going to kill a honeybee by clapping him in her hands. We only did that one time. Dad heard us bawling and screaming, and so he came out and realized we weren't fighting, but we were really hurt. And he did something that was phenomenal to me. He took an old Barlow pocket knife and went to the palm of our hands and removed the stinger. How phenomenal is that? And magically, it did not hurt. That's what Jesus did when he died on the cross and was resurrected the third day. He took the sting away. And so there's a phenomenal amount of theology in understanding our position as new men and women, taking off the old and putting on the new. And so the process simply says, and some have talked about it already today, our promise of heaven. When I come to the river at the ending of day, when the winds of sorrow have blown, there'll be somebody waiting. to show me the way I won't have to cross Jordan alone. A piece of poetry you may have heard, and I'll be through. Years ago when I was just a lad, and after school I used to work around the farm with Dad, I used to get so wearied out when eventide was come, and I'd get anxious-like about my journey home. But my father led the way, and once in a while I'd hear him say so cheering-like and so tender, come on Vic, You're almost home. And that always used to help me some, and so I'd follow father home. I'm old and gray and feeble now, and trembly at the knee. But somehow life seems the same today as it did back then, it seems to me. I still get wearied out when even tide has come. I still get anxious like about my journey home. But now my heavenly father leads the way. And once in a while, once in a while, I hear him say so cheering like and so tender, come on, Vic. You're almost home. And same as in that always seems to help me some. And so I'm following father home. Would you sing a song with me? Number 34 if you need the hymn book. How great thou art. Dana is so gracious. Give me that B flat. How about standing with me please? Oh, Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder Consider all the worlds Thy hands hath made. I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed. Sing it! How great Thou art! How great Thou art. Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee. How great Thou art. How great Thou art. You've got to do the last verse. When Christ shall come. And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration, And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Instinct my soul, my Savior God to Thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Smooch on somebody. Thank you for letting me preach to you. Hallelujah. Verse number three, I saw your hand over here, yes. I thought you were gonna come forward and rededicate your life to him. I mean, I didn't know for sure. Hallelujah. How great he is. And when I think that God, his Son not sparing, sent him to die, I scarce can take it in. And on the cross, I heard Him gladly praying. He bled and died to take the women. Everybody, the chorus! And He saved my soul, my Savior God, to Thee. How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee. How great Thou art! How great!