It's time now for the chapel hour coming to you from the campus of Bob Jones University. Our speaker is Mr. Casey McClure, residence hall supervisor at BJU. The title of his message is Implications of Being Risen with Christ. The text is from Colossians chapter three, verse one. Good morning. I am excited to be able to be here with you and open up God's word and share with you what the Lord has laid on my heart. If you would turn in your Bibles to Colossians chapter three, Colossians chapter three. Think with me for a few minutes. What dominates your life? Currently, right now, you say, now, wait a second, Casey, it's a little obvious. I'm in summer school, I'm taking one, maybe two classes. I'm an aviation student. I go to class, I think it's seven to four, seven thirty to four. Is it not obvious that summer school is what is dominating my life right now? Let's get a little more specific than what dominates your thought life. When you wake up in the morning, you go to bed at night, what one thing do you consistently think about? You know, the themes of Colossians. The preeminence of Christ in Colossians chapter one, you don't need to turn there, but in verse 18, the Apostle Paul says this, and he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he or Christ might have the preeminence. The Apostle Paul was aware what the church at Colossal was struggling with, the temptation to go back to their old ways. And so the Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the church at Colossal to encourage them To keep the faith. So if you will follow with me in Colossians chapter three, we're going to look at two verses this morning and then we're going to jump back to Colossians chapter two for just a few minutes, but reading in verse one possible says this. If you then be risen with Christ. Seek those things which are above where Christ sit if on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the Earth. First thing that I'd like to look at this morning is that there must be a place of salvation. When you read this text, it's obvious to see that there is a logical progression. If you then be risen with Christ or since you are with Christ. Now, let's think about that for a minute, what are the implications of someone who is risen with Christ? Now look with me in Colossians chapter two. It's amazing. The Apostle Paul defines for us in the same book what he is talking about being risen with Christ. Colossians two, it's just a chapter down. Verse six, he says this as he had therefore received Christ Jesus, the Lord. So walk ye in him. Rooted and built up in him. Establishing the faith as he had been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. You see, the idea of being risen with Christ is unified with him. You have come to a point in your life where you have placed complete faith in Christ, in Christ alone for salvation. And you say, I'm at Bob Jones University. You mean there's actually some people here who may not know Christ as their personal savior? And I would say to you, yes. Let me share with you just a few minutes, I want to be transparent. I attended the university from ninety four to ninety nine from nineteen ninety four to nineteen ninety eight. I attended as a university student and I did not know Christ as my savior. I'm not proud of that fact, but I am excited to know that the Lord used those four years to encourage me and to prepare me for what he has done, especially the summer that I accepted Christ as my personal savior. I was at the wilds Christian camp. Many of you are familiar with the wild. It was the third week of camp. So actually, it would have been the first week of camp. But the third week that I was there, the first two weeks, Tom Farrell had preached his regular messages on Wednesday night for salvation. And I sat in both of those weeks on those Wednesday evenings considering or pondering what the Lord would have in my life. And each time I said, you know, Lord, I'm saved. I have completely placed my faith in Christ and the Lord would bring me back to Romans chapter 10. And then I would consider again, I know, but I'm just not sure. So the first week of campers, the only week that I had senior high guys. The Lord really began to work in my heart, and it was that Wednesday evening that Tom Farrell again preached the same message that he had preached two times before. And it was as if, to me, I had completely memorized his message. I knew what he was going to say. So honestly, I began to ignore it. I turned immediately in my Bible to Romans chapter 10, and I prayed to the Lord. I said, Father, you know my heart. And if at the end of this message you are still convicting me, I'm not going to be hesitant. I'm going to get up from my seat. I'm going to walk out and I'm going to accept you as my personal savior. I'm not sure how many times I read Romans chapter 10, but I read it a lot during that message. At the end of the message, got up from my seat, grabbed my youth pastor who was there, and he and I talked. Britt Green, he said, Casey, you know what? I can't tell you what you need to do. You know what you need to do. Now do it. I'll be honest with you, it was a tough thing. I was supposed to come back in the fall as a hall leader. I was the vice president of my society. So to speak, I had a lot of things going for me. But I did not want to be. Caught up with pride. I could easily not accept Christ my savior just because of pride. But I didn't want that. And the Lord broke my heart. And at that point in time, I realized what he wanted for me. So the Apostle Paul is saying, if you then be risen with Christ, if you are unified with me, he's talking about our walk. What is your walk like? I knew that my walk did not match what I claimed to have been. I wasn't a bad guy. I knew deep down inside that my walk did not match what I said I was. Look with me again at Colossians 2, verse 6. It says, "...as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him." That word walk means to be consumed with or occupied with. It says to walk with Christ or be occupied with Him solely on Christ. Verse 7, "...rooted and built up in Him." You're familiar with the passage in Psalm chapter one, verses one through three, where David says, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of the sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. You see, the idea here is to be rooted or grounded, that your faith is established in Christ. So the first thing I ask you today is this, where is your foundation? Not the person beside you, but you. Where is your foundation, who or what have you placed your faith in? I know I'm not saying right now there is somebody who does not know Christ as their personal Savior, but there may be somebody who is struggling with this. And I ask you to consider what the Apostle Paul is saying. What the implications of being risen with Christ or unified with him are. It means that you are walking with him daily. In Colossians chapter three, again, verse one, we see it says, if you then be risen with Christ, we've seen that there must be a place of salvation. The second thing that we see is there must be or you must earnestly seek those things which are above. Look at the second part of that verse. Verse one, seek those things which are above where Christ sits on the right hand of God. The idea that the Apostle Paul is giving here is that you are earnestly or you are in a pursuit for the things of God. Consistently. Let me give you a little illustration to help you understand this. The fact of the matter is that those things that you are seeking must have some sort of value, right? Would you say? I mean, let's ask it this way. If you lost a quarter in your bedroom, how many of you would earnestly, with great passion, search for a quarter? Anybody? Maybe a couple of you, OK, but most of you are going to say I lost a quarter. That's fine. You're not going to earnestly seek it. Now, about five years ago, before I came to the university, I had the opportunity to work for a company and they paid me to travel around the United States and speak to students similar like similar students like you on different topics. Mainly, it was about studying. And I was in Boston, Massachusetts, and I was flying home and you know, it goes sometimes you're there at the airport and the lady or the guy comes on the microphone and he says, is there anybody that would be willing to give up their seat? If you give up your seat, we'll give you a free round trip ticket to anywhere in the continental United States. I raised my hand. I said, right here, I want the free voucher. Give it to me. They said, OK, come right on up. So I went up there and I took the late flight. It was midnight. I didn't get back home until about 3 a.m.. But that was fine because I received this free voucher to go anywhere in the continental United States round trip. I was excited. My brother and I, the year before, had just gone to Lake Tahoe to go skiing. And so I already knew what I was doing with that ticket. I was going in March to see my cousin at Lake Tahoe and go skiing. I was excited. I got home that night. It was early in the morning. I went into my room and I had two big bookshelves and the books were double stacked. So I pulled out a book that I figured I would use pretty often. And I stuck the voucher right in the middle of it, closed it, put it on my shelf. And let me tell you, I still have yet to find that voucher. OK. The voucher was good for a year, so I was in Boston, March 6th, 1990. It was 2001. March 1st, 2002 came around. I had to use the voucher and I began to panic. I said, OK, I know where it is. And then I started the search and the search went on. I went into my room. I literally pulled off every single book off of my bookshelf, put it on my bed. And I did, you know, this number where you grab the book and you kind of do like this and hope that something would fall out. I did it to every book. I don't know how many books, but I did it to everyone. I went to church the night before I was supposed to purchase the ticket when I came home, my mom had worked late. She was in my bedroom. It was a very funny picture. She was sitting on my bed going through every single book on my shelf looking. And you see the idea that the Apostle Paul is wanting to communicate here, that there is an earnest passion for the things above. Now, stay with me, I don't want to lose. The emphasis. On what you are searching, yes, there must be a pursuit There must be a earnest search for. But remember that the pursuit must be on godliness. You see, I asked you that question, how many of you, if you lost a quarter, you would search for it. One or two of you might. But a quarter only has the value of 25 cents. But the value of a plane ticket is pretty valuable. Now let's bring it into perspective. What about the things of Christ? What value do the things of Christ have in your life? Are you willing at any moment to stop what you are doing and open up God's Word and read it? Now, not during the middle of class. I wouldn't want you to use the excuse that you're doing your devotions. But any other time, free time, are you willing to stop what you are doing, to open up God's Word, to spend time in it? See, the idea that the Apostle Paul is wanting to communicate is, first of all, there must be a pursuit, but the pursuit must be on the right thing. I know what it's like to struggle with pursuing wrong things. You may pursue reading. My wife, I'm privileged to have her with us and she is a bookworm. She loves to read. She convicts me because I'm not a reader. I like to go outside and work in the yard or work with wood. Maybe you say. I like to work with wood. That's what I like to do. That's what drives me, which would be me. I love to do things with my hands. Or maybe you're somebody you say, you know what? I want to just make money. That's the only thing I want to do. And you're here in school with one driving goal that you're going to graduate, maybe it's from high school or from college, and then you're going to go make money. All of those things. are not in and of themselves wrong. But when they dominate your life, when they are the only thing that you are thinking about, that is what drives you, that is your motivation for life, then they are wrong. See, look in verse 2. The next thing that we see, the final thing that I want to look at this morning, is that you must strive for a heavenly mindset. See, there must be a place of salvation. You must earnestly, earnestly pursue the things of Christ. Finally, there must be. A strive for heavenly things. Look at verse two, the apostle Paul says this set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. That word set is very interesting to me. Think of tennis. Or volleyball. You know, volleyball, the Olympics, they're hitting the ball up and they set it. What do they set it for? Usually they set it for the kill. At least that's what you would like to see, right? You want to see him smash it. You want to see the other team have Spalding written on their forehead, right? They have a goal to get the point. What the Apostle Paul wants to tell us here or communicate to us is that there must be a mindset. We must consider the things of Christ. To think about them. This isn't something that you just go. OK, I've thought about it, let's move on. It would be the difference if I could illustrate it this way between a multiple choice test which I would rather take and an essay test. You go to class which most of you are in class if you're here and you will have tests coming up. And we all shoot for the multiple choice. You don't want to fill in the blank, right? You don't like fill in the blank. I see Dr. Yeagley here. I just took his Old Testament class. And one of the things I dreaded were the essay tests. I didn't like them because it made me think a lot. And so when I went into class, I had to go in with a plan. Usually that meant before I went in, I had already written out several of the questions before I even went in there. I had prepared. I knew that I was going to cover this point, this point, this point and this point. The multiple choice test you walk in and usually you might spend maybe 10 seconds on the answer and then you move on. What the Apostle Paul is saying is consider the things of the Lord think what you're doing. Think about what you're doing. Set your affection. Let me ask you this one more time. Your affection. What is your affection? I have affection for Susan. I love her. Some of you may have a fiance or a girlfriend or a boyfriend. All of you have parents. You love them. But let's get more specific. Aside from the people, what do you love? You see, the overriding theme in verses 1 and 2 is talking about your motivation. What is your drive for life? The object. Let me be honest with you one more time. Before I came back to the university, I was a children's pastor, children's director at Hillsdale Baptist Church in Tampa, Florida. I loved kids. I still love kids. I love to make balloons. It's just fun. I can act like a kid. I mean, where else can you do that? And I enjoyed it. And about two and a half years into it, I was there five years, the Lord began to prick my heart. I didn't know what he was doing. About four years into it. I began to get. Tired of what I was doing. But I wanted to do it. I am still enjoyed it. It was my love. It was my passion. But my passion didn't match up with what Christ said. My passion was what I wanted. You see, I was single. I was living at home. I was able to go to football games, the hockey games. I was able to enjoy life, so to speak. And the Lord began to convict my heart and say, Casey. What is your affection? And he used this passage. He's what are you shooting for in life? What is your desire? I attempted two times to get into the University of South Florida for a master's in mass communications. Each time I came short by difference of like 10 points of getting in. And the Lord kept saying Casey, what is your affection? Your affection is on what you want to do, not on what I want to do. And finally, I said fine. I'm not going to win. And I said, Lord, yes, I will. And for me, that meant go back to Bob Jones University. I did not want to come back. That was not in my plan. And I did. And I can say by God's grace that he has allowed me to be here and he has given me a wife. And he's made his path, his direction for my life clear. And that's because I was willing, I was willing to submit to the things of Christ. Do I still struggle with my affections? I do. I'm human. It's natural. And the Apostle Paul understood that, and that is why he encouraged the church, Colossa. He encouraged them to continue. To be consistent. And the things for Christ. So I close with this. What is your affection on? What is motivating your life? What is driving you? You've been listening to the Chapel Hour, coming to you from the campus of Bob Jones University. Our speaker was Mr. Casey McClure, residence hall supervisor at BJU. For a cassette or compact disc copy of today's message, send a check for $6 to Campus Store, Bob Jones University, Greenville, South Carolina 29614. Be sure to mention the name of the speaker and today's date. The Chapel Hour has been sponsored by Bob Jones University.