Scripture referenced 5 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Colossians 3:1 since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God
1 If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.
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Keep this verse
Colossians 3:2
set your minds on things above, not on earthly things
2 Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.
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Colossians 2:20-23
since you died with Christ to the elemental forces of this world, rules about do not handle, do not taste, do not touch have an appearance of wisdom but lack value in restraining sensual indulgence
20 If you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances,
21 “Don’t handle, nor taste, nor touch”
22 (all of which perish with use), according to the precepts and doctrines of men?
23 Which things indeed appear like wisdom in self-imposed worship, and humility, and severity to the body; but aren’t of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.
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1 Corinthians 6:19-20
your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, you are not your own, you were bought at a price, therefore honor God with your bodies
19 Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
20 for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
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Romans 12:1
called to lay down our lives as a living sacrifice and not be conformed to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of our mind
1 Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Mike (filling in while Ray McDaniel was in North Carolina for his daughter's graduation) preached from Colossians 3, asking the congregation to take honest spiritual inventory. The central question was whether Christians are living with their eyes fixed on eternity or whether comfort has quietly become the thing they are actually chasing. He closed by asking everyone to sit with the difference between being a believer and being a disciple, and which one Christ actually calls us to.
What was said
Mike opened by asking people to remember high school, what mattered, what they worried about, what they were chasing. The point was not nostalgia. It was that high school is a temporary phase with its own rules and its own social economy, and those rules do not transfer into the real world. The moment the last school bell rings, none of the relational and social equity built up there carries forward.
He used that frame to name something he said he was done being quiet about. Jackson Hole high school culture has a serious party culture, and students who go all in on popularity are forming habits around alcohol and drugs that can follow them for decades. He spoke directly to parents, encouraged drug testing, encouraged checking in at night, and said he had seen enough damage that he refuses to pretend it is not happening.
Returning to the message, he said the same short-term thinking that traps a high schooler can trap a believer. If this world is all we see, comfort becomes our idol. We aim for security, measure ourselves against our neighbors, and quietly stop living in light of eternity. Colossians 3 calls believers to set their minds on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, not on the temporary.
He paused on Colossians 2 to make a specific point about how change actually works. The passage says that rules of the form "do not handle, do not taste, do not touch" have an appearance of wisdom but lack any value in restraining what they are meant to restrain. Mike said he does not think God calls anyone to white-knuckle their faith. Behavior modification is topical. What God is after is internal transformation, which starts with honest conversation: telling God exactly where you are, even if where you are is not wanting God at all.
He pointed to 1 Corinthians 6, which says believers are not their own and were bought at a price, and to Romans 12:1, which calls us to lay down our lives as a living sacrifice and to be transformed by the renewing of the mind rather than conformed to the pattern of the world. The direction matters more than perfection, he said. God does not need us to arrive cleaned up. He just needs us to turn toward him.
Mike closed with the reminder that everyone will stand before God alone, with no congregation, no spouse, no credentials, only what they actually were. He quoted Jim Elliot: "He is no fool who gives up what he could never keep to gain what he could never lose." He pointed to the men's Thursday lunch group and the women's Thursday study as places where that kind of deeper engagement is already happening, and encouraged anyone who knew their next step to take it.
He left two questions on the table. What is the difference between a believer and a disciple? And which one does Christ call us to?
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Mike drew a contrast between a believer and a disciple and left those as open questions at the end. How would you personally describe the difference between the two, and which one do you think Christ calls us to?
- Mike talked about the danger of going 'all in on the temporary,' using the example of high school social life, and said comfort can become an idol. Where do you see that pattern showing up in your own life right now?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 8,290 words
Well, good morning, everybody. As folks are still coming through the door, how about this? Would you stand with me? And I'd love to worship together, by singing the Lord's prayer. Father, let your kingdom come.
Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, as the song says, right here in our hearts. Can we make this our prayer and our song here as we gather together? Father, let your kingdom come. Father, let your will be done. And earth as
in heaven right here in my heart.
Let's sing that again. The father that your kingdom come,
father that you will be done, and earth as in heaven right here in my heart. Give us. Forgive them, and lead us not into temptation but deliver from the evil one. Let your kingdom come and it's yours. It's yours.
It's yours. Yours, all yours forever and ever. The kingdom is yours.
The father let your come. Father, let your will be done.
On earth as in heaven, right here in my heart.
Oh, father, let your kingdom come. Amen. You can have a seat here for a moment. And oh, there's there's Nick. I was hoping you'd come up, Nick.
I wanted to wait till last minute. Thanks. So you got really nervous. Hey, everybody. Welcome to First Baptist Church.
We're so glad to hear. We're gonna start out with everybody's favorite subject right now, crowd dynamics. It is the busiest season Jackson. And in all seriousness, we never leave seating in the back rows for the people who are new. So I'm gonna talk to you.
I guess, kind of my hope of what I wanna see. When you arrive, if you would sit in the middle of the row. Okay? Not on the edges. And if you have extra seats, would you fill them?
Right now is a good time to meet your neighbors, scooch in. Because in about three minutes, we're gonna get a whole rush of more people who don't have a place to sit. So if you would, squeeze toward the middle. That's helpful. And next week, I wanna challenge you all to not sit in the back three rows on both sides.
It's an achievable goal. We can work together. I'm I I know everybody laughs. Don't laugh. This is I'm sincere about this.
Are you shaming us?
I'm real I am shaming you. There's so much empty space up here. If you're if you've got a picture in the directory, sit forward. You've been here a long time. You know you're safe.
Come forward, please. It's we should not have to open up those back doors. It would be so helpful to me to do that. So please, would you consider next week not sitting in the back three rows and let the new people who come in late be there? That'd be awesome.
Thank you so much. We're so glad you're here. Sincerely, really means a lot. We've had people walk out and not sit in the service because they can't find a seat. So let's make it so they can.
Okay. So at First Baptist Church camp out, July nineteenth through twenty first and August twenty third through twenty fifth. We're doing two of them. It's down in Palisades. It's a great way to meet people.
There's tons of food. Please bring some extra food and your own camping gear. Contact Brian McCooey first if you have any questions. We even had a porta potty last year. It was revelatory.
It changed everything. It's it's good living. So come check it out. There's water sports. It's a good time.
Would you please? Come down the first BBQ, July to June 23 is the next one. We have a big barbecue out here with breakfast foods that it's so wonderful. It's a big potluck. Would you bring something for everybody?
Bring a friend. It's an awesome time to to bring new people to the church to to to let them experience it, and they can sit in the back rows. Wouldn't that be fun? Sound booth volunteers are needed. We had Preston, who was who was great up there, but he left us for sunnier pastures.
And right now, Jeff is back there. Let's give it up for Jeff. Could you give him a He's doing great. He didn't even panic when things wouldn't turn on this morning. He's doing great.
But would you come back and and help us out and be an extra sound booth volunteer? I think it's a lot of fun. So would you would you come back and be there? And, for Vacation Bible School, which is coming up, please be praying for Vacation Bible School. And would you consider, looking on our website?
There's a link on there with a bunch of things that need to be donated. Don't just bring in anything. Okay? Bring in just the items that are on on there. Would you sign up for this?
If you can't look on there, come into the office. I'll show you. We've got a sign up list there too where you can fill out stuff. It's it's gonna be awesome. And would you consider volunteering and signing up these wonderful kids for VBS?
And I think I think that's it. Anything else?
Graduates, Mike?
Graduates, come on up, buddy. Where's Mike? Mike Demetrius? He's probably back there talking to some nice friend, being kind. JJ gives me the the thumbs up.
So while we're while we're pausing here, we're gonna go into a little moment of stand up comedy. Oh, good. Oh, shoot. Mike came. Dog gone it.
But thanks. We'll see you guys next week with those three back rows fully empty for people to come in.
Alright. So today is graduation Sunday. So we will recognize our students that are leaving high school and going out into the real world, learning to college. So we'll start out. Who do we have first?
David Brown is at a wedding, not able to attend today. But David Brown probably looks familiar because we've graduated his other two brothers from here over the last couple of years. But David Brown is graduating this year, gonna go right into the workforce. So let's give him a round of applause. Sam Sinclair.
Is Sam Sinclair here today? I believe he is. Sam, would you come up here if you are here? Alright. So Sam's graduating this year.
He is headed off to Bozeman to study engineering. So he'll be at Montana State. Let's give Sam a round of applause. Pascal is graduating. She's actually graduating this weekend in North Carolina.
So Pascal Grace, this is Ray and Tanya's daughter. She is graduating, headed off to Auburn. So she'll be studying, I think she's a double major biomedical and Latin, which wow. So let's give Pascal a round of applause. Yeah.
Ben Upton. Ben Upton, are you here? Are you here? Oh my goodness. Come on up.
Alright. Good to see you, Ben. So Ben's working for the county, plans to continue doing that. So he'll be right here working in our community. Wanted to honor Tiernan Schultz as well.
Tiernan is not with us. Tiernan made his transition from this life into eternity this year, but he did the hard work and he would be graduating this year. So, could we give him and Ben a round of applause? So proud of our seniors. Let me just pray for these guys, and then after service, I've got a Bible and a journal for each of you.
Father God, thank you for these men and these women that have graduated, and they're headed off to this next phase of life. God, we ask that you would bless their journey. Would you guard them, protect them, keep them safe, and would you guide them on the path that you have for them. God, that they might make a difference in this world for you. We ask all this in Jesus name and everyone said, amen.
Proud of you guys. Thank you. Yeah.
Hey, would you take a moment, stand, say hi to the people next to you and we'll bring you back in and song.
Our God and a firm foundation are on the yule and solid ground as nations rise and fall. And kingdoms once strong now shaken. We trust forever in your name. Name of Jesus and we trust. We trust the name of Jesus.
He's the only king forever. You are the only king forever. Almighty God, we lift you higher. You are the only king forever. Forevermore, you are victorious.
You are the only king forever. Almighty God, we lift you higher. You are the only king forever. Forevermore, you are victorious. The justice you will reign.
Every knee will bow. And we bring our expectations. Our hope is anchored in your name. The name of Jesus, and we trust. And we trust the name of Jesus.
You are the only king forever. Almighty God, we lift you higher. You are the only king forever. Rivermore, you are victorious. You are the only king forever.
Almighty God, we lift you higher. You are the only king forever. Forevermore, you are victorious. Let's sing. We lift our banner high.
We lift Jesus. We lift our banner high. We Jesus from midst to edge you reign. Your kingdom has no hand. You are the only king forever.
Almighty God, we lift you higher. You are the only king forever. Evermore, you are victorious. You are the only king forever. Almighty God, we lift you higher.
You are the only king forever, forevermore. You are victorious.
Can I share a good word from from Romans? It's this. If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own son, but he gave them he gave him up for us all. Won't he also give us everything else?
Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Wow. No one. For God himself has given us right standing with himself, and he's done that through Christ. That's who we're singing to.
That's who we trust. That's that's the firm foundation under our feet. Who then will condemn us? No one. For Christ Jesus died for us and he was raised to life for us.
We serve a risen savior. And he's sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand. He's pleading for us, interceding for us as we speak, and present with us through his Holy Spirit right now. Isn't that good news? Thank you, Lord.
I Free Alas, he has ransom. His grace runs down. While I was a slave to house. There's a place for me. I'm a child of God.
Yes. Am chosen not forsaken.
Thank you, Lord, that we get to sing these songs that tell of our identity, our identity in you, that were chosen, not forsaken. Thank you, Lord, for drawing us to yourself and doing the good work of convicting and convincing, doing the good work of saving. God that we would trust, that we'd sing out in faith. Thank you God for mercy that's new every morning. In Jesus name, amen.
Daily, I Surprised by mercy that's new every morning. Awaken our soul. Awaken my soul to sing. Awaken my soul to sing. And I will trust where you need.
And I will trust. And I can't see. Morning by morning, great is your faithfulness to me. Breath by breath, overtaken by It's rain for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Awaken my soul of sand.
Has spoken, and he keeps his hand and word. So I will trust. I will trust you. Oh, morning by morning. Oh, morning by morning.
Oh, I will trust where you need. Praise your faithfulness to Morning by morning. Oh, morning by morning, praise your faithfulness to me.
Amen. You can have a seat here for a moment. This is the worship through giving part of the service, and I'll invite the ushers to come on forward. And we're gonna sing a song called savior and friend from John 15. This is this is one of my favorites.
Jesus tells his disciples, he says, I no longer call you servants because a servant doesn't know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends. For everything that I've learned from my father, I've made known to you. Before we sing, would you pray with me? We'll give thanks.
Lord God Almighty, we thank you. Thank you God for this assembled crowd this morning. Thank you Lord for imparting faith in us. We can call you Lord, we can call you savior, we can call you master, but we also can call you friend, your friend. Someone who is dearly loved and prized by you.
That everything that you've learned from the father that you you you share with us, God, a gift. What a gift that we would listen. God, with the generous and loving spirit that you have, may the gifts that we offer, God, could we offer with a generous and loving spirit. Not just here in this place, God, but day to day life. May they be used for your kingdom's advance, and God, would your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
In Jesus name, amen.
How sweet it is to be given love without it. Just to know and live in your goodness. Jesus, my savior and friend. I lost and alone. I was walking a road I had paid with my sins and mistakes.
But you came along and gave me a song that I'll sing for the rest of my day. Oh, how sweet is to be given love without end just to know and live in your goodness. My savior and friend. And year after year, you've stayed by my side. You've proven you're true to your word.
Mike, I'm gonna invite you up. You guys know Mike. He's our our youth pastor and grad Sunday, and so we'd ask if he'd bring the word. And it's been rattling around in his mind all week, and now now we get to deal with it. He's gonna put it in our lap.
And kids, you're invited to to go to children's church. I love the pitter patter of little feet. And, Mike, may I pray for you?
Thank you. Yes.
Lord Jesus, I thank for Mike. I thank you, Lord, for his shepherd's heart, his desire, Lord, to to love on our kids here at First Be, his desire to to know you and to share you, Lord. And so, Lord, you've been filling his heart and his mind, with the word all all week. And we ask, Lord, that, you would, through Mike, share exactly what you would like for us to hear. And Lord, that we would not just not just hear these words, but we would take them to heart and put them into practice.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Amen. Amen. Thank you, Carl. Thank you guys for being here. And can we give a round of applause for the band?
I'm so thankful for these guys. Thank you, Carl, and Ryan, and Seth. The guys in the sound booth, I'm thankful for everyone that plays a part making this possible. So, yes, like Carl said, and if you haven't figured out, I'm not Ray McDaniel. He is, of course, in North Carolina watching his daughter graduate, and you guys got me today.
So he'll be back next week, so don't be alarmed. Today, we are gonna be in the book of Colossians. We're gonna be in Colossians three. So if you have a Bible or an app, I'd invite you to open it up. We're gonna look at just a couple of passages today.
And then, I'm gonna reference a couple more. But, Colossians three is where we're gonna be. I do believe and I have been praying and asking God to speak through me this morning. Not because I'm anything, but because God loves you guys and I believe that he does wanna speak to us. So, I put some note cards in the seat back in front of you and there are some little pencils in there.
If you feel like God's speaking something to your heart, would you just write down those notes, keep those with you. I find that our brains are great at processing information and not so good at storing them. So, I want to start our time together with a couple of questions. Now, these questions were sparked by one of our last youth group meetings. Natalie Yates shared a message with our students, our high school group.
And essentially, she was asking our students to take spiritual inventory. Like, where are you at spiritually? Where are you at? Who is God to you? And she that, I deduced two questions.
And those two questions were, in the context of Christianity, what is a believer? What is required for to be a believer in the Christian faith? And then, the next question is, what is a disciple? So, I just want you to begin thinking about that and think about like, is there a difference between those those two? As a youth leader, I get a glimpse into the middle school and high school world through our students.
And today, want to focus kind of I'll use the illustration of of our high schoolers. And I want to know, like, do you remember high school? When you were in high school, do you remember what that was like for you? What thoughts come to mind when you think about your high school? What were your worries?
What were your concerns? What were you focused on? What was a big deal to you? What made you laugh? What made you cry when you were in that stage and phase of life?
And and I ask because, well, for one, it's my world right now. Right? I get the opportunity and honored to get to speak into the lives of of so many high schoolers. But as I think back actually, let's do it. Show of hands.
How many of you, when you think back on your high school time, and now that you're in the real world, you look and go, yep, those two are the same. Like, would anyone say, yep, high school is just like the real world. I hear some laughs. Right? But the problem is, is we don't get real world until we're out of high school.
So, up to this point, our high schoolers, they know middle school and they know high school. But they don't know what us as adults know, is that when you graduate, things change. For me, I know when I was in high school, I spent a lot of my time, energy, effort focused on being popular, on being cool, on trying to gain influence with my friend group. And I'm sad to say, didn't do high school perfectly. I made a lot of mistakes.
But if you're like me, you can learn more from the mistakes than you can from the successes. And I think that's what drives me as a youth leader today. I look and go, I know what the missteps were. Let me help. So, there is a difference in the real world in this short phase of high school.
So, one of our main goals, and I think it's so pivotal, one of the things that we harp on is we try to help students understand that high school is a temporary phase of life. It's not the real world, and it doesn't last forever. And we do this for two reasons. One, if we have a student and they don't fit in well, I just tell them, just just hang on. The whole world is not like this.
If you're getting bullied now, don't worry. It's going to be like this is such a short period of life. Hang in there. You're going to graduate, and the minute that last school bell rings, none of this stuff matters. And the same thing if I have students that are really popular and they're going all in on what it takes to be popular in high school.
I say, just be careful because the real world is not like that. It's not like that. And at this point in the message, I'm going to diverge for just a second. We're going to step out of course of our message. I'm going to share something I'm very passionate about, and then we're going to come back to the message.
Here inside Jackson Hole, our high school culture has a big party culture there. Okay? So, in order to be popular, succeed, and I'm going to speak in generalizations. I know this isn't for everyone, but popularity in Jacksonville High School normally involves ingesting nicotine, alcohol, and drugs. And I wouldn't bring it up, but I've done this long enough to where I decided two years ago, I'm blowing the lid off this.
I'm not hiding it anymore. There's a party culture here, and it is damaging our students. And if students think that the real world is like this, they go all in on it, and they party. And I get them, I got a call this week from a parent, and they said, my student's struggling? This is a good family.
My student's struggling? We put them out of the house. If you see them, would you go after them? And I said, absolutely. So I did.
I saw him driving around town, and I went and I talked to him. And this young man informed me that he's got it all together. Yeah, I'm doing everything's good. I got it all figured out. And in that, I saw myself and it's like, it just breaks my heart.
I go, I know, I know, I know. So my question to him was, since you've graduated, have you realized that all the rules, all the standards have changed? They've changed. You go to a party at 16, you party, you've shirked all your responsibilities, you drink more than the next guy, you party hard, whatever, you get attention. You're like wild, crazy, cool guy.
The problem is we don't find people, I've looked at the stats on this, we don't find people with addictions in their forties that didn't start in their teens. So, I caution them, I go, don't, don't, don't, just be careful because you're forming crutches and it's so hard to get rid of them in the future. So please be so careful with drugs and alcohol. Yeah, you might be okay for tonight or for the weekend or for whatever. But what about when you're 40 and you have a I mean, there's huge difference between a person who has a hard day and goes for a run at five and a hard person have a hard a person who has a hard day comes home, cracks a beer at five every day.
I mean, it's like these two different worlds. How do we deal with stress? How do we manage it? And, what I've found at Jacksonville High School is stress, anxiety, fear, alcohol and drugs become medication. On a on a large enough scale to where I know what I'm I'm bringing this up to a large population, I am exposing this.
We meet with parents at the beginning of the year because I started saying, I can talk to students all day long, but I gotta start talking to their parents. And I started telling parents, check on them while they're supposed to be sleeping at night. They're sneaking out, they're partying, go check. Not just look in there, make sure it's not pillows in the bed. If they say they're gonna stay at a friend's house, you call that parent and say, hey, are they staying at your house?
I pass out drug tests at this. I go, here, make your kid pee in a cup. Because I had my little brother come out here, every Friday he peed in a cup. And when it came back clear, we went and got cheeseburgers, that was our deal. I say it because it's extreme.
You can get a ten panel drug test, track for opioids, fentanyl. We don't like to test our kids, we like to think the best, but if your kid's taking opioids or if there's fentanyl around, you want to know right away. You want know right away before it's too late. So, I framed that. Now, we're going to get back on with my message.
That's just my public service announcement. Okay? I just my desire is to make this known because I'm tired of seeing the damage that takes place. It breaks my heart and I will not pretend like like it's not happening. If so, back to my message.
If if I know the most important thing to a high schooler is fitting in, I know the behavior that has to take place for that to happen. And it's it's damaging over time. This is probably a surprise to you. It was a it was a surprise to me. But as I return to my message, I hope that you can see that being all in on the temporary is harmful.
Going all in on the temporary I'll give you another example. Maybe you guys have been driving around between hours of four and 06:00. Anybody seen now again, I'm speaking in generalizations. Have you seen any middle schoolers on e bikes and thought, just slow down at the stop signs at least. Right?
Like, it's going to take you two seconds. But, things could go so poorly at an intersection with a person on an e bike and two friends hanging off the bike. And, I'm sure people are wearing helmets, but doesn't it kind of seem like when people are flying through stop signs, no one's wearing helmets? It's like, just slow down, slow down because life's kind of long. Generalizations, I speak in them sometimes just to illustrate a point.
But, the short term thinking versus the long term thinking. Today, this is a message for believers. If you're here today and you're not a believer in Jesus, and you're just figuring out this God thing, I invite you to sit back, listen in. This is gonna be a a huddle, a pep talk for us as Christians. Okay?
But if you are a believer, I think God has something for us today. We're gonna be, like I said, in Colossians three. And as we open Colossians three, I just wanna look at a couple of verses. We're gonna start in verse one. And God's word says, since then you have been raised with Christ, Set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated.
Where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Then he goes on to say, set your mind, your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Let me just pause there. What is he telling us? He's telling us it's not the short sighted thing, it's the long thing.
What problems in your life would not be solved by taking a look at Christ our savior, seated in full authority at the right hand of God, and the fulfillment of everything he came to do? The reality is, guys, our life is short. The Bible calls it a vapor. A vapor that we should live in light of eternity. It's the reality that everyone you've ever met and everyone you'll ever know will pass away from this life.
That's just a hard reality that we will all pass away. I deal with this in youth. I know there will be a last message I speak to youth. There's a last time I will hug my wife. There's a last time I will kiss and put my kids to bed.
There's a last time. Not hypothetical, factually. And, there will be the last times for you guys too. This life is short. Now, I like big picture stuff.
So, I like to look and go, okay, this is what we believe as Christians. Right? That there's some heaven or hell. But, as I pan out and I look, the three biggest religions in the world are the Abrahamic religions. Okay?
So, we've got Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. All of which believe in a judgment and then an afterlife. Okay. Now, if I were to be so bold as to add in like Buddhism and Hinduism where there's this reincarnation factor to it, then I would say we've covered probably three quarters of the world with people that believe we're not just going to go straight into the dirt. That there's some judgment and then there's some existence after that.
Why do I bring this up? What we believe here matters. How we live matters. God has called us to play a role in his story. So, we're not in high school.
Why does this matter to us? Well, as I was praying and preparing for this message, I couldn't help but notice that if we're not careful, since this is the world that's around us, that we touch, taste, feel, see, we could believe that this is all that there is. And if we were to believe that this is all that there is, we might go all in on what I would call the temporary. My understanding of that is that it would lead us to an idol. That idol would be comfort.
We would aim for comfort. Making life a little bit easier, we would shoot for some sense of security and comfort. Sprinkle in a little bit of comparison. As long as I'm about equal with everyone else, maybe a little bit better, life is somewhat good. But if we know that God has called us to set our eyes not on the game coming up this weekend, the chicken wings we're going to eat while we watch it, not the short term, not the temporary, but the eternal.
To fix our eyes, past death to eternity, to see Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father, as our risen Savior. Went into the grave, but did not stay there, because God sent him to do a work. If we're able to look past our comfort towards the eternal things, I think we can gain a different perspective, have a different aim. Now, we are talking about Colossians three right now. So, in order to gain a perspective, I went back and I read some of Colossians two.
And, I wanna share with you something from Colossians two that I just think is absolutely brilliant. I like self help stuff. Does anyone in here I mean, you don't have to raise your hand, but you could kinda like Like, I like self help stuff. I like it anyone that could go like, hey, you're out of time, you're a moron. Why don't you try doing these three things and you're going to get back an hour a day?
I love that stuff. Alright? I like the idea of it. Okay? But, I mean, as I read more and more books that were self help, I started to realize that not all movements progress.
Like, can do these things, but there was something missing. So I went and as I was reading through Colossians two, I saw something that was very interesting. And I don't know if we'll have it on the screen. I'm gonna go to the bottom of Colossians two, and he goes, since you died with Christ to the elemental forces of this world, why, as though you still belong to the world, do you submit to its rules? Now, follow me on this.
Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with us, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations have an appearance of wisdom with their self imposed worship, false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body. But, they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. Now, what I get from this, I don't think God calls us to white knuckle our faith.
There's times we need to fight, sure, and just not do things. But, what I think and what I'm taking away from this scripture is it's far more Rather than just say, I can't drink, God says not to. I gotta give 10%, God says I should. And we do it just out of command. We get one type of fruit.
But one thing I think that's missing from this self help world that this verse speaks specifically to, is that there is a connection with God. I think once we have that connection with God, it doesn't look like, well, I gotta go to church today, I gotta spend an hour there, God's gonna be mad at me. I think it's, I'm finding it's far more fruitful to go, hey God, you know what? It's early Sunday morning, I don't wanna get up, I don't wanna go to church today. Would you help me in my heart?
Hey God, I've got these desires to do these things and I need to give them to you because I can't fight these things. Hey God, would you help me in my faith with you? Hey God, I know I'm supposed to read my Bible, but if I'm honest today, I don't really want to. Hey God, it's been a long time since I prayed, and I don't even really feel like I can come to you, especially based on what I've been doing. But, could you help me?
Could you help me want to want you? Can we just start there with desire? God, could you help me want to want you? And I think that as we resist the urge to just simply behavior modify or conform or push ourselves to do the right thing, if we start being very upfront and honest, we maintain that connection with God going, God, would you help me with these things? Hey, God, here's what's really going on in my heart.
Could you change me from the inside out? We change as a human being and we don't just modify our behavior. One's topical and one's eternal. I mean, internal. Does that make sense?
I hope that makes sense. So maybe, the second thing that I think could help us is knowing whose we are. First Corinthians six nineteen tells us that, do you not know your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? And then he goes on to say this, you are not your own, you were bought at a price. That price was God's one and only son for the forgiveness of our sins.
And then he goes on to say this, therefore, honor God with your bodies. One of my favorite verses is Romans twelve one, and he calls us to lay down our lives as a living sacrifice. To lay down our lives as a living sacrifice and to not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind. So, I think there's this, what I wanna help us see is that there's a part we play. Submission, surrender, these things, when we do that with God, he can change us from the inside out.
But, maybe you're here today and you think, okay, okay, okay. Alright, Mike. Maybe I did get a little bit too focused on comfort and not so focused on the kingdom. Maybe, if I'm honest, maybe my eyes are too focused on everything going just perfect here and it's less about my connection with you and less about me doing your will here on earth. What do we do?
Well, as I mentioned before, the first thing I think we do is we just kind of stop and we tell God exactly where we're at. Hey God, If I'm honest, comfort's kind of eclipsed you. Sometimes, it's all I see is the things I'm striving to get and the comfort and security I want in my own life. So, God, I just need to tell you this and I need to ask you for help. One thing I know about a loving father, regardless of where you are, the moment you put up a beacon and you go, here I am.
A loving father that knows can take you from where you are to where he wants you to be. And I think that's the God that we have. All we have to do is go, alright God, here's where I'm at. Would you help me? And God is lovingly, willingly ready to guide us on the path that he has for us.
Maybe you're here today and you go, what if I don't want that? What if I want what I want and I don't want God to interfere? That's your starting prayer, right there. Hey God, I just want what I want and I don't even think I want you. Could you come and work with what I am?
Like, you just start with what I am? I'm convinced that God is more about a direction than he is about perfection. He doesn't need us to be perfect. He just needs to come to us and he can guide us from there. This is the God that we have.
So you pray, you course correct. One thing I do not want us to do is double down. Well, I'm scared to go with God, I'll never have any fun. I'm just gonna keep living my way. You double down in the wrong direction.
Let's not do that. Let's not double down. Let's course correct. We have to know that this life is temporary. If the entire world was like high school, I'd had different advice for students, but it's not.
It ends in the moment that last school bell rings, no relational or social equity transfers forward. That's it. It's done. Let's plan for that. Know this life is temporary.
We will all stand before I think this is healthy to hear every now and then. We will all stand before a perfect and holy God. Do you know how we stand there? I'm not gonna have my wife with me. I'm not gonna be there with my kids.
I'm not gonna stand up with the first b congregation. I will stand before a perfect and holy God alone, with my whole life laid open before the one that created me and the one that knows it all. And, the Bible I read says that is true of you as well. I don't love that idea, you guys. I don't love it.
I wish I could take some of my equity from here and show up to God with more of a resume and go, well, here's some of the things I did. Don't you got another one of those seats maybe at the right or your left? Right? Like some of the other disciples? I like that way better.
It's just not the Bible I read. And if we're gonna show up alone, we need to know that. No credentials, no resume, only filthy rags. I think the key is to just come to God, tell him where we're at, ask for help. If that's the God we have.
So, and I just wanna share, I long to see the church activated and every person walking in step with what God called and created them to be. I went through my life far. I grew up Catholic and I thought it was all about enduring a one hour Sunday sermon and then that was good. You do this one hour, you got seven more days. Right?
And that's what I thought it was. And I look now and I go, man, it was not a rule, it was not a white knuckle faith. It was about going, you know what God, I partied with my friends this weekend and I did some things I'm not proud of. I have trouble saying no to my friends. God, would you just help me with where I'm at?
And I think we have, I believe we have a big enough God, he can handle those talks. He's not going to be upset by it. He's not going to, you did what? I don't think that's our God, you guys. So, maybe you're here today, maybe you're new to this whole God thing.
What's your next step? Maybe God's been putting it on your heart while you're here. Maybe it's just to start reading the Bible. Just pick up the book of John, just start reading it on your own. Maybe you're here, you've been coming for a while, you know God's calling you to something else.
You know that. Maybe it's a study. There's a phenomenal I mean, my comfort, if I'm honest, I didn't even want to tell you guys about this. Okay? Because of what it would cost me.
But there's a Thursday men's group that meets down the hall at lunch, and it has become one of the highlights of my week. We go through about this much scripture and about this much life together. What that scripture actually means to us in this life. And, there is so much wisdom. These old cowboys are there and I'm just like, I'm eating it up.
I love everything that goes on in that room. And, I don't want to tell you about it because I want to keep it just the way it is. But I love you guys so much. I'm going to tell you, if you're a man, bring a brown bag lunch and come down there and just sit for a week because it is good. It is so good.
Maybe that's your next step, is to get in a group where you're at least one day a week, you're diving into that word. If I'm honest, some days I'm reading it ten minutes before, just going, what is that passage we're about to do? And that's fine. That's fine. Maybe you're a lady in here.
I know that when I'm getting ready for youth group on Thursday night, there's a group of women down there. And I'm not there for their study, but I'm telling you they're diving deeply into God's word. And there is growth and there is love in that room and in the cooking, I'm telling you. So maybe that's your next step. I don't know what it is.
Maybe it's for you to be intentional in your workplace, to be more consistent in church or I don't know what it is. But, I wanna encourage you, whatever that next step is, to take that step in your faith journey. I'm convinced that the main thing is to have our goal be obedience and not comfort. Obedience to what God is calling us to, to walk in step. If you were here last week, Ray McDaniel shared a story.
Does anyone remember what he shared about? Because our brains are great at processing information, not so good at remembering it. Ray said that he got punched in the nose. Do you guys remember this now? Okay.
Alright. And and and after that happened, he was called to obedience. He was mad at this guy, but then God started laying it on his heart, you need to call this guy and you need to reconcile with him. And out of obedience, he did that. Not because it was comfortable, but because it's what God was calling us to.
My question is, as Christians, are we willing to take that next step of obedience? Colossians aims us towards the eternal, to fix our eyes on eternity. So take spiritual inventory. Where are you at? Do you trust God?
Do you want to walk with God? Are you willing to walk in obedience to him? Where is comfort as an idol in your life? Take inventory of that. Is comfort your main goal?
Or is serving and obeying God your main goal? Just be honest with yourself about that. A couple more things and then we'll wrap. Good people don't make it into heaven. We hear this a lot in our town that, well, I'm a pretty good person, good people don't make it into heaven, forgiven people do.
Everyone we meet, everyone we've ever spent time with will spend eternity somewhere. Each one of us, we will spend eternity somewhere. As I was prepping for this message, wrote something down. These are my words, this is not the Bible. But, I'm gonna share it with you.
There are people that have never stepped foot inside of church that will be in heaven. There are people that spent their entire life inside a church that will be in hell. That is a hard reality. But, I believe there is at least some truth in that. I don't know what those percentages are, but I'm telling you that is possible.
People that never step foot inside a church will make it into heaven. And that people that spent their entire life, every time the doors are open, and they will not make it into heaven. The Bible says that words will be spoken away from me, I never knew you. The difference between I think the Bible is the best self help book there ever was because there's this connection with our creator, and he can help us transmit information and change from the inside out. Now, we're out of high school.
We're out of high school, so what are we supposed to do? I know if I could go back to high school, if I me, knowing what I know now, if I could go back to high school, I would use my relational equity and my social capital for the benefit of other people to make the kingdom of God known there. I would have seen a kid sitting by himself at the lunch room, and I would have taken my relational equity over there, and I would have bridged the gap for them. I would have shown love. I would have shown forgiveness.
I would have done things differently. But I'm not in high school, and neither are you. What is the equivalent right now? If we were to be at the end of our days, looking back on our life, I mean, once we're there, that's it. What would we tell ourselves?
What would we do differently now? Buy a bigger TV, work hard for that boat, or invest the kingdom of God in the community that we live in? Jim Elliot says this, he is no fool who gives up what he could never keep to gain what he could never lose. I want to leave us with two questions. First question is, what is the difference between a believer and a disciple?
Now, I want you to be thinking about this week. What is the difference between a believer and a disciple? And the second question is simply this, which one does Christ call us to? Which one does Christ call us to? Let me pray, and we'll close out.
Father, God, thank you for speaking this morning. God, I say we need your help. Father, we can get off course so so easy, but we ask that regardless of where we are, would you come and meet with us and bring us to where you want us to be. God, I thank you that you're more concerned with our direction than you are with our perfection. So, help us to know you more and to love others well.
We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.
Thank you, Mike. Would you stand? We'll close in one last song together.
Cry. And from nowhere to sound and the mysterious, we hear cries be magnified. Christ be magnified. Let his praise arise. Christ be magnified in me.
Christ be magnified from the altar of my life. Christ be magnified in me. Human heart it's crying. But then in one moon ride, shouldn't a phrase that's in Christ be magnified. Christ be magnified, and let his praise arise.
Christ be magnified in me. Christ be magnified from the altar of my life. Christ be magnified in me. Strong and worship you. And if it puts me in fire, I'll rejoice because here and there too.
I won't be formed by feelings and hold fast to what is true. If the cross brings transformation, we crucify in you because death is just over to resurrection light. Arise. Christ be magnified in me. Oh, Christ be magnified from the altar of my life.
Oh, Christ be magnified in me.
God, that's our our prayer and our song this week. Lord, as we go, would you be magnified in us as we, Lord, yield our will to yours. God, would you use us in a in a in a powerful way this week, Lord, to reach others, that the the good news of your love and forgiveness would be shared. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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