Our Citizenship is in Heaven

All right. Well, thank you all for being here today. And the verses today are Romans 3, 20 and 21 are citizenships in heaven. And I'm going to begin reading at verse 17. Now, keep in mind, my vision is another issue, but I hopefully promise that my vision will improve after there's a modest procedure being done in a month. Two weeks later I can get my prescription renewed. So I'm not sure whether I see better without glasses, with my dime store glasses. So bear with me in terms of any mistakes in reading the scripture here. So we're going to start with verse 17 in chapter three.

Brethren, join in following my example and note those who so walk that you have us for a pattern. For many walk of whom I've told you often and now tell you, even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is their shame, who set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body, that it may be conformed to its glorious body, according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself. Now, these verses seem pretty straightforward. There's some questions that come up within the verses, and I'm going to try to challenge you in the lesson that I'm going to be presenting.

All right, first, what does it mean to be followers of me? As Paul said. We talked about that last week. Further discussion on that. What does it mean to be followers of Paul? To be of the same mind. Same mind as Paul? Okay. What did Paul say about being followers or imitators of Christ? He says we followers of him as I follow Christ. Okay.

Are we following Christ really in terms of the rest of scripture? We have a new life in Christ Jesus. So Paul is the human example of what it means in the fleshly body. That's not the sinful body, but it is, of course, that too. In the fleshly body, looking at Paul, that's the walk that we should admire and really foster our lives after. We live by faith. We live by faith in the Son of God.

I like what you said last week concerning we're not walking behind Christ. Or in his footsteps, right? We're walking in Christ. Are we all on the same page? I think we are. Yeah, Bob, you know, this is kind of a popular phrase. We've seen it like in chat room and stuff.

I'm a follower of Jesus. Christ follower. Christ follower. And that kind of, it's kind of a telltale sign on where they're at spiritual. And they say, I'm a Christ follower. Well, wait a minute. You're in, and just like you're saying, you're, we're in Christ. So boy, that distinction that the world has a, phraseology that kind of says I'm following after Christ, and that's a good thing. Well, people mean well by that. I'm going to say they don't. They don't mean very well by it. It kind of has a legal cloak around it, doesn't it? The idea I'm following Him, so I'm trying to do everything He's doing. Exactly.

But yet the grace God gives is the power of the Spirit in the new creation we are in Christ Jesus. So Paul is saying be followers of me. I'm a human example of what the Lord can do in life. And look at Paul and all his credentials. All right, let's move on here. Some walk according to us. And we suggested last week there was more than Paul. It was Timothy and Epaphrodites as potentially other examples.

And some not. Why? And we can place that in the third bullet point. Who then are the enemies of the cross? Remember our discussion last week? Those who do not walk according to what Paul has called them to. they presumably are related to the enemies of the cross. And we discussed at some length, are the enemies of the cross within the body? Remember the letters written to the body. But are these people who really were never saved and are really not part of the body or is it both?

Let's spend less than one minute on that one. Less than one minute. We're talking about believers here. Entirely. Entirely. Okay. So there are enemies of the cross despite being saved. Is that what we're saying, Bob? You can be a believer and go to heaven and still be an enemy of the cross. Because we all have sin natures.

Okay. What Doyle has said often, the better you know him here, the better the rewards in heaven. That's where we're going to substitute the term reward for our relationship to heaven. I'm sure that's what he said. I thought he said the closer we are to heaven, the better. Yeah, in heavenly places, Better row, you're going to be in.

I was just thinking where this was in the Bible. I struggle a little bit with rows. I'm not quite sure I see rows. All right, let's continue. So, the verse for today I think is one of the, you know, really epitomes of Scripture of the Church. For our conversation, best translated, I think, citizenship is in heaven. But let's also, we look from the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, this seems pretty straightforward up front, but we're going to get into a little bit of discussion to follow. So, conversation, there's the Greek term that's only used in Philippians. It's used in 127, and there, In 127, it's where the word is used as a verb, not a noun.

So if you look at the noun, it's only used in Philippians 3.20, but in 127, it's used as a verb. Only let your conversation be as it is becoming of the gospel of Christ. You're talking about the gospel of Christ and those uses of verb even though it seems like it's a noun.

So, that's the description that's given in terms of the second use of this Greek term poiema. All right. According to Strong, there are three interpretations of this term, this Greek term. The first is the administration of civil affairs or of a commonwealth. So, governmental, if you will, in terms of conversation or citizenship. Second is the constitution of a commonwealth, form of government, and the laws by which it's administered is another interpretation of the original Greek language. And the third is a state or commonwealth, and that's a commonwealth of citizens.

So, it really does have kind of, you know, governmental, you know, implications in terms of its original translation. So we need to understand that, you know, what commonwealth are we part of? And that's the next question. Is this really an appropriate or best interpretation, sorry for the spelling, in terms of commonwealth, or in fact, do you think that we ought to think about something other than commonwealth, including citizenship? What do you think? Commonwealth is an interesting term. As a Canadian, we hear that term occasionally.

You know, we belong to the British Commonwealth. And so, though we don't think of ourselves as British regularly, we do belong to that Commonwealth and we have ties. And I've never been to Britain. I've never been over the ocean. And yet, in a sense, that is where my citizenship lies. So, it has some resemblance to our citizenship, though we don't physically reside in heaven, we have our citizenship there.

Is anybody online from India or Australia? Oh, okay, nobody is, okay. Thank you for sharing that, Miles. This is an important point. Let's see what standard people have been kept to say about this. So, this is Weiss. The Greek word refers to an antecedent condition protracted into the present. It speaks here of fixedness.

Thus the commonwealth of which the saints are citizens has its fixed location in heaven. The stability and security of the citizen under Roman law filled the thoughts of the time with high conceptions of citizenship and its value. Philippi was a Roman colony and its citizens therefore were Roman citizens but in terms of citizenship. Paul sees this fact as a good opportunity to illustrate to the saints their heavenly citizenship with its privileges and responsibilities. What a contrast between those mentioned in, I put that in black, but that's verses 18 and 19, chapter 3, who are citizens of this earth and those spoken of here in 20 and 21 who are citizens of heaven. I think he summarizes it as well. as a city were also considered Roman citizens. So now Paul is using this to ultimately make them understand that that same type of Commonwealth that exists here is also existing in heaven for us. So here on earth do we have a dual citizenship? That's good. What is the purpose by which our conversation or citizenship is inhabited? What is the purpose of that? What does the verse say? Well, it says that we were to operate from that place, which I always like.

The next part says that we look from that vantage point, so to speak. Well, pervasive, it says, for once also I look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So we're looking from heaven. It seems, you know, to our human mind, it seems backwards. How can I be looking from heaven? I'm physically on earth. So, look can also be translated as eagerly await How should we interpret this if we are positioned there? Aren't we one with the Savior?

What do you mean we're looking for Him? Are we positioned there? And that's where our citizenship is? Why are we looking for Him? Thoughts? Why are we looking for Him if we're positioned there already? What's that looking for in the sense of being, well, eagerly, we're anxious, you know, if I'm looking for my relatives to come or my children to come, I look out the window and I'm looking, are they there yet?

Are they there yet? Isn't that the context? Bob, are we like an upside down tree where our roots are in heaven and our life is in heaven, but all of our branches and mind is down here on the earth? Okay, but so why wouldn't the Greek language give us an understanding, rather than look for, meaning where is he, I mean, or what's he doing, kind of in some sense representing how we're bonded to him, how our life is positionally executed from above. What are the thoughts? Roy, you have your hand up back there. I was looking at the words that are in this, on the screen. Privileges and responsibilities there. Privileges, responsibility, okay.

Yeah, and if you look back in chapter 1 at verse 5, your partnership or fellowship in the gospel, and then verse 27, that your conduct be as it becometh the gospel. Both of those are earthly, aren't they? I mean, they're an environment that we live in.

And then when we get to this use of the word, it ties us to heaven, doesn't it? The verse that we're looking at right now ties us to heaven with privileges and responsibilities. So we're looking for our Savior to provide that platform on which we operate in. I'm paraphrasing. Yeah, but that platform, using your word, is we're on the earth, but we're part of heaven at the same time, because this is part of His creation. And so we exist in this environment when our real privilege and responsibility emanates from Him. You know, we believe this so strongly and this truly stands for the fact that we begin with a positional cruise that we're granted all heavenly blessings in heavenly places, right? But it doesn't quite tie us in to Him personally, that we're here on earth, but He's alive in us. He's living through us. So, again, looking for our Savior to continue to implement His truth and life in us. How's that? Some people, some of the commentators think it relates to the rapture. That that's what we're looking for the Savior for. But that takes away a little bit from my understanding of what being a member of His commonwealth is all about.

I mean, we've got to believe that our citizenship is in heaven. And, you know, the Wednesday night study that Mike's been through the last one, six months or so, I mean, Israel is an earthly creature, is it not? And we are heavenly creatures, meaning that's our signature. But in essence, we're all one in the same part of God's creation. OK. But again, the division between the church and Israel scripturally is well defined. Wayne? Well, we're a new creation in Christ, for one thing. We're the bride of Christ.

Doesn't that put us into a whole different position? That's very true. And you know, the thing about position and understanding this about our citizenship is that gives a security blanket that never ends, doesn't it? If we're positioned in heavenly places, that gives us a trust and comfort in terms of what each and every minute going forward is, and especially our eternity. All right, let's look at this. Let's look at what kind of citizenship we have.

Is it ultimately in Englewood? Or Aurora? I mean, Peter's getting increasingly interested in the politics of Englewood. That's where his house is now. And where that's going to go, who knows? But anyway, I mean, he's a citizen of Englewood. And I mentioned Melore because much of my work time is spent there, right? Well, that's Aurora. We're citizens of Colorado, are we not? We have delegates that go to the various assemblies, et cetera. And we're citizens of the United States of America. Now, many people here are not citizens of America. We'll leave that one on the shelf right now. But anyway, think about your citizenships here.

How much did Roman citizenship mean to the Philippians, do you think? It was a privileged colony. Okay, what privileges came from that citizenship? Well, it was a retirement city, primarily, for Rome. There was an awful lot of retired guys. But Roman citizenship also, you couldn't be accused of a crime, you couldn't be imprisoned. I mean, you had special rights. There were privileges. There were a lot of privileges that came with that.

And this is reflected a little bit in the book of Acts 16, 12, and 21. There's two verses I've lumped between the dot, dot, dot, dot. And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony, and we were in that city abiding certain faiths. dot dot dot, and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. So, I mean, this just reflects on the atmosphere that existed in Rome, as Luke is describing in Acts. So, anyway, that's just a hint of kind of the environment that existed in Philippi that represented Roman oversight and citizenship. So, what are the limitations of earthly citizenship? and I'm going to lead you on here.

Too many to count. Think out loud, just randomly, spontaneously. What are some of the limitations in U.S. or Canadian citizenship, Miles? What are the limitations? Well, you break the law, there are consequences. Is that a limitation? It can be different in different countries. I have a neighbor who spends half her time in Germany. She actually has a German husband. And before they were married, she could only be here three months, there three months. And she could only stay a certain amount of time. And now that she's married and she has residency, she can only be here a certain amount of time. So there's restrictions that way as to how long she can be in the country.

So let's say frankly, what are the barriers to being a citizen of Englewood or Colorado, USA? Do we have anything to say about who the delegates are to the conventions in Oklahoma? No. I mean, is that a limitation? Well, yes, no. I don't know what Oklahoma thinks.

But, you know, USA says, Jeff, when you travel abroad, you've got to have a passport. I mean, so the citizenship we have in this earthly environment has limitations to it. It also has privileges and is filled by As an example, they were privileged to have Roman citizenship, although it is marketed to protection from things of a legal nature. So, and now our heavenly citizenship. It is not of ourselves, is it not? But by grace, positional, and eternal. It's a whole different framework for the commonwealth of heavenly places that we exist in. And keep in mind, the citizenship we have here In Inglewood, Ororo, Denver, Morris, and wherever else, I'll call it, it simply is based on where we dwell.

All right, Galatians 4.26, for Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all, a promissory note.

And Hebrews 11.10, for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. So we're looking at something eternal that has a whole different framework and governmental structure around it.

So what's the limitation of the heavenly citizenship? And I think there is one that's very important for us as believers to think of this limitation, and in a sense it's a privilege. What is demanded of God for us to participate in our heavenly citizenship and ultimately have that life lived out in us? believe in Jesus Christ.

Okay, it relates to us, the Lord and Savior. But the foundation is ultimately, the promises are often delayed and entirely for our life period dependent on our faith. So if we fall short on faith, the security of our salvation may be questioned. But our life is impacted by that. So our limitation is we have to live by faith. Boy, now I think that's great. That's what God has called us to.

But how often does our faith fall short? And it falls short for conditions. It falls short because of the sin nature. Satan's a privilege. He has privileges in this world system. We've got all these things that are an antithesis to our living by faith. And is that a true limitation? It's not if you live by faith. It's not. But we've got to live by faith. on this foundation of grace in which we're found.

Hebrews has something to say about this. These relationships, we're studying on Tuesday, Roger. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed them. They were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. That's what we need to think of ourselves in.

We're living by faith in those promises God has given us, very much like the heroes of the Old Testament that were mentioned in Hebrews 11. We've not seen what's forthcoming, so that is a limitation. The faith we have makes us believe that these things are true, but yet we still haven't experienced them. So you can say that's not a limitation, and it's not if we live by faith.

Any other thoughts about that? When we think of limitations, I think sometimes we overlook the fact that we're in a world system, you know, humanly organized, okay? And we're in a system that, in general, has the angelic conflict going on. We've got Satan, we've got sin natures. Yeah, it's a flesh, right? So we're an antithesis to the life in Christ. Yeah. It's in nature, the world system, and Satan himself. But greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. Yes. Wow. It's a good pillow for a tired head. All right, Constable has some thoughts here.

Furthermore, it is from our heavenly kingdom that a savior will come to deliver us out of this present evil world and take us to our home and motivate us to live as citizens of heaven. even while we're still on earth. And the first John passage we'll not turn to, but Constable kind of breaks across this theme of the rapture and our being taken home a little bit more maybe. And I could go through all the commentators here, but that's one interpretation that's looking for our Savior.

It's really the promise of the rapture. Well, Proverbs 120, and according to my earnest expectation and hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, But that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. So that kind of concludes verse 20 in terms of overviewing the citizenship that we have, our commonwealth of residence that we have in heavenly places. Now let's turn to 321, who will transform our lowly body that, by the way, it may be is not in many translations. transform our lowly body that makes us, if you will, conform to a glorious body according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself.

Now, this verse gives you an idea that this is looking to the rapture or life after death, doesn't it? And so that's maybe where Constable's going a little bit with his interpretation here. This is looking at when our bodies are transformed. Now who will transform or change our body that it may be conformed or fashioned unto his or his body? So who's about that process? The Lord Jesus. Who? The Lord Jesus. Okay. All right.

And what is our current understanding of this incredible promise? Is this all rapture related? When does it start? When does the transformation occur? Okay, that's where I'm going with this. Is the transformation occurring now? Yes. Or in the moment it is, right?

Is the transformation occurring after we die? Absent from the body, present with the Lord, right? Well, if we're thinking of the physical body, that's true. But in a spiritual realm that inhabits this physical body, it's a process, isn't it? And certainly we can find plenty of scripture to look at the process of transformation and confirmation now.

Versus in Romans, on and on. Now keep in mind, our lowly bodies have also been called a vile body. What are we making of this? How should we describe vile? We still have an old sin nature. No. What's that about? We still have an old sin nature. So you think it relates to the sin nature. That's what makes it vile, right? Isn't there an aspect here where we're talking about the body of Christ? That we are now individuals in physical bodies? So you're thinking about the church?

Yeah. I'm just saying. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. I mean, there's a parallel here, isn't there? That we're being transformed into his body. Well, let's look at how we translate vile. It's kind of informative. Loneness, low estate, spiritual abasement, leading one to perceive and lament his moral littleness and guilt. How about that? How are we doing with all that, right?

And that relates more, I think, to the vile nature being the sin nature, Bob, as you mentioned. That really was this. We've got to continually distinguish between some, I mean, the fleshly body, this body that we dwell in, where the spirit dwells, and also the body of sin that we're born into. And I think that's what vile is represented there, don't you?

Say, Bob? Yes? Being conformed to the body of Christ is a progressive thing. So we're continually being conformed and probably the best way to illustrate that is we go through trials and tribulations and God uses those to bring us to a maturity and it's a progressive thing until one day we're actually glorified and we go into heaven. The question is, that's on his timetable, right? Yes. All right. So, we've discussed this a little bit.

Why is our earthly body called vile? Well, Kostel says that the body is lowly, weak, and susceptible to all kinds of evil influences. The idea that it's sinful, which the AV implies by using the word vile, is absent in the Greek word. So, you know, that's initially common, I think.

So, is this transformation different than that described in Romans? What do you think? Romans 8, 29. For whom he foredo, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Any thoughts about that? Or is this all in the one? All the same thing? I think those are probably parallel. Okay. Parallel. Describe that for us.

I think it's a fairly common theme throughout Paul's writings is that our humility and we read also of Christ's humiliation and the glory to follow. And we parallel Christ in that, that we, Romans 6, 5, for if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, His suffering, His humility, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection. And I think that's the process of the Christian life, is humility and suffering, followed by glory, which is not necessarily waiting for, you know, eternity to come, that is the glory, it would increase in glory, right, from glory to glory, ultimately reaching its culmination when we, at the end. Yeah, I mean, the whole issue of transformation versus confirmation could be argued left and right for some time. If you in general, if you interpret the same way, buried with him with baptism of death, risen with him in newness of life, that life is being transformed by that new creation we are, and then conformed over our experiences, the trials and tribulations.

Everybody okay with that? Rhys has something to say about it. He says, these bodies in whose members there resides the sin principle, and that's stated in Romans 7, I think, 17 and 18. will be devoid of that in their new condition. The change has to do with the body, the house or outer casing in which the person dwells. The individual himself has not changed their glorification, only his body. That is why the Greek word was used which denotes an outward change.

So this transformation in Philippians 3.21 is in the body, the physical body. Whereas ultimately the confirmation we're seeing in Rome is that it relates more to life. Okay? 1 Corinthians 15, 42, 44. So also is the resurrection of the dead.

The body is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor and it's raised to glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body.

Also, that same chapter, Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. So, the interpretation here that Constable kind of opened up the door to is ultimately the physical body being transformed more or less than the confirmation that Paul talks about in Romans. So, I'll leave that to you to talk about further.

In Romans 8.29, this transformation is to be in his sons, meaning all of us, after the pattern, model, or image of his sonship in our nature, if you will, the new creation.

So I think we can distinguish a little bit in terms of the theme of transformation of the physical body here in Philippians 3.21 from the confirmation we have in our earthly lives in Christ Jesus.

All right, according to the working by which he's able, he can subdue all things to himself. By what process is the Lord accomplishing this? What do you think? We've touched on that here a little bit this morning already. By what process is he subduing all things to himself in our lives?

I've got trials and tribulations, right? I mean, isn't that probably one of the most obvious examples of how we're being transformed and conformed. And in our flesh, we respond poorly to this because our faith falls short. But ultimately, you know, so often in scripture by many of the authors in the New Testament, they're calling us to look at our trials and tribulations as a process of our growth.

And boy, you know, this could be selfish. It seems like we'll just have a few of those here for years truly. It's hard when you're going through the trial, it's tough to step back and look at the big picture. I haven't stepped back yet, thank you Lord. Anyway, we'll leave it at that.

His working superhuman power, whether of God or the devil, by the way, this term is used as two examples. In Ephesians 119 it says, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe, now those who believe, our faith principle, according to the working of his mighty power.

Second Thessalonians 2.9, the coming of a lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power signs and lying wonders. Satan has a lot of power too. And I think if we're playing a game here, the Lord wins, of course, for the leader. And John 11, 25, 26 is a comforting verse.

Jesus said to her, this is Martha after the death of Lazarus, remember this, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whosoever lives and believes in me will never die. He says to Martha, do you believe this? And then, of course, he raises Lazarus from the dead. I mean, all the comfort we have as believers is in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no other way that we have the comfort of peace other than with the new creation through our Christ Jesus. And I think his words to Martha are really substantial.

We're going to end with this. It's interesting, the hungry heart. Sometimes the Lord puts something right before you that's applicable to what we're trying to get across today. So this is 8-1. Those who read that, he has 12 chapters of this. He has 31 verses and there's only 30 verses. What do you do with the 31st verse? Do you discount that? I sometimes do, but sometimes I read it all. So anyway, the one for 8-1 is this.

To abide in heaven and the Lord Jesus is my place. My faith is exercised here and the suffering here may be prolonged and continued. Thank you, Josh. But I abide there and while abiding I engage myself with everything concerned with my father and with reference to the place he has set me in. In that blessed region where he has placed me and where he alone can keep me and where I am simply dependent upon him. It is his interest alone which engaged me. and thus it is that that I minister to the saints. Isn't that interesting because not only does he substantiate our position in heavenly places, but he says through that example is how we minister to one another.

And boy, you know, if you think back in James, Roger would bring, and those who were part of the James study, you remember the purpose of James was really that it's not You're saved by your works. We know we're not saved by our works, we're saved by our faith, embraced. But our works are evidence to Jim, or to Marilyn, or to Clark, or to Heidi, about how Christian life is being lived out in each and every one of us. So that's why, I hate to go on a rabbit trail here, but that's the importance of the book of James, because it says the body is paying attention to how the Lord Jesus is being emphasized and glorified through your existence.

That's a responsibility of God's nature to everything. We don't do things to please our brothers and sisters, but the life when it shows up will ultimately bring glory for our Father. That's all I have today. Does anybody have some additional thoughts or insights?

One thing that we do have from Scripture concerning God's work in us is the Holy Spirit is taking the things of Christ and giving them to us. And the transformation results in Christ's character being manifest through us. Love, joy, peace, patience or longsuffering. We talked about longsuffering a lot here today because suffering is part of the manifestation of Christ, isn't it?

But there's also the goodness, the interdependence on Him living His life out from us, that humility that He's in charge. So that the net result is He's in control of our self. He is the one who fights that battle. Wow. And by faith is when that becomes true. So often we sense this earthly responsibility, don't we? But I think in general, and it reminds me of a brother of the Lord a few years gone by that analyzed everything he did as whether it was of the spirit or of the flesh.

That's not the life we're called to. We're called to living by faith and power. and not by, you know, if you get schizophrenic, you're out of the flesh. That's not what we're called to. We're called to do it by faith. That way, God becomes glorified in our lives. And that's to witness others.

Yeah, it's interesting, you just asked Martha a simple question, do you believe that? He didn't say, are you, you know. Do you believe that? And that's the thing, the whole scripture, do we believe what he says? from Genesis 1 to the end of Revelation, right? Do atheists believe what God has revealed? This is what he's revealed to the body.

We're heavenly citizens. The commonwealth that goes far beyond the UK. In the modern vernacular, according to the transformationists, the Lord Jesus Christ is the only one that can pull it off. And remember, the limitation of our heavenly citizenship is that we, by faith, fall short of understanding the promises and everything they represent. And when our faith falls short, we become doubtful of it.

Because the flesh has a way of erupting our faith at times, and sometimes trials do that, although we're called to the trials to grow by grace. Miles, any parting thoughts, Jim, others in the class? Yeah, my mind's just kind of revolving around the idea of the exertion of the power that he has to subject all things to himself in Ephesians 1, 20 and 21 where he has been seated above all rule and authority and power and dominion and this all hinges on the fact that our head is seated above all power and authority and dominion. And I think, I've been thinking a lot this last week about the two Adams and, you know, we had one head, we have now a new head, Christ Jesus, and that's the seat that He holds and we are in Him there. That's where our citizenship and His power is, is the power that's exerted in this regard.

Well, one thing that I think came out to me that I I didn't forget, at least it enabled me to really consider how serious it is, is superhuman powers are also Satan's capabilities. He has powers that go beyond anything the world system has to offer. And he uses the world system, doesn't bring us down. So superhuman powers are existing in heavenly places and also in places that are no longer heavenly.

And we need to keep that in mind. Anybody else, any final thoughts? Jim, will you close us in prayer, please? Father, thank you for the power that you show us that can keep us on track. Thank you for displaying your power and letting us know about it. We thank you for this revelation of yours, and we just appreciate being able to know you and trust you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you.