Colossians Lesson 15 Week 3

What I'm going to hand out is, I just thought it would be good, because a lot of times we talk about the Greek. And this was a cheat sheet, actually, I think, that you put together, Winnie. You had a small, years ago, way, way back, a little cheat sheet. You had a little cheat sheet. You fit in the Bible.

And so I've just enlarged it and made it, and this is kind of, when we talk about aorist tense and all the moods and this and that and all the different things, I thought it would be good just for when we mention these things, so you know what we're talking about. Because a lot of times we say these things, I wonder if you understand where, when we're talking about the Greek and the tense and the mood and all that.

One thing I will say is on the aorist tense, even though it's a past completed action, Sometimes, eros can have a little bit of variance where time is not in the eros tense. So, a lot of times when I say past completed, but sometimes eros can mean without regard to time. So, that one, you kind of have to look a little bit deeper sometimes on the eros tense. But most of the time, it is a past completed action. So hopefully that'll help you when we talk about the Greek.

So we are on lesson 15. Colossians, we're going over Colossians verses 3, 1 through now 4 with the 15 supplemental. And Mike, was Cheryl saying that she didn't get the attachments? Did everybody get emails with 16 and 15 supplemental? Sure. I didn't. So if you didn't see Mike about that, he can resend it. We have a 15 supplemental and I think the 16 back there printed out and hard copy. So if you'd like that, but you didn't get it, I can resend it with the electronic files if you want the electronics. So let me see.

You know, after last week's class, there were a lot of good questions, a lot of good thoughts, and I just wanted to, you know, I had more time to ponder, which is always a dangerous thing. But I was, you know, it struck me with Monique and what she was talking about, you know, when we'd just gone over the verses about set your mind on things above, seek the things above.

What does that mean? That you're supposed to set your mind, and Monique brought up the fact that, you know, how do I do that when I'm changing a diaper? How do I do that when I'm getting my hair done? Did anybody else think about that over the week? What that means? No. Fair enough. Well, I did, because I thought about that. When we say these things, like set your mind on things above, what does that mean when we're having our hair done, changing a diaper? What does that mean? After all that, I started thinking about it.

What does that mean when I'm, I'll put it to myself, when I'm on a drill rig? And what does that mean? Am I supposed to be thinking of things above? Should I be quoting scriptures and putting the other casing and screen? What does that mean? That I'm supposed to set my mind on things above when I'm working or I'm doing whatever?

And strangely enough, it's myopic. We're looking at these little verses that we're looking at. Well, guess what happens right after this? In Colossians 3, 12 through 17. I went and after looking at this, and I encourage you to read, you know, we attack three or four verses at a time and we get very precise and very surgical and we get down. I said, go back and read the chapters, you know, go through the whole thing, read it. Remember this is one letter. We divide it up into chapters and verses and all that, but it's one letter. I encourage you just to read through it and get the flavor of all of what is going on through the whole book of Colossians. But as I read in Colossians 3, 12-17, I'll read it.

So as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving each other. Whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you are called, in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another, with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father." And I thought that's kind of the when you're doing it. Give thanks in all word and deed, giving thanks.

It's just an attitude behind all that you do. You're the Lord's, you're doing it for Him, and that's constantly in the background of your mind. Even when you're changing the diaper, even when you're doing your hair, in all things, Christ is in the background. It's always a part of you. So, when I'm out on the drill rig, I'm thinking, I'm doing my work, but I'm doing it as unto the Lord. I'm His ambassador. And just in the back, at the back of my mind at all times, it's, I'm doing it for the Lord.

And that's always kind of setting your mind on things. So when you're at the hairdresser, you know, you're thinking, you know, but you start thinking about the Lord, or you're changing the diaper, you're doing it as unto the Lord. It's just a mindset that is always having Christ somewhere in there. And it's always kind of, I don't want to say always in the background, but it's always there. And you're always knowing who you are, and your ambassador to Christ, all those things, that's kind of setting your mind on things above. So I mean that's, when you ask that I kind of... I tried to figure out how to do that and I read the chapter. What a thing, you know.

I'm going to say when I'm having my hair done. And may I say it looks marvelous. I need a haircut. But anyway, the gal, the hair place I go to, people always She just sits and listens to their stories and sometimes things are going horrible in her life. She has a son-in-law who went to, who was in the vet shop, Columbine School and all that. So she's not a believer and I can just gently share God's word with her.

Be ready in season and out of season. Anytime. You know it's the others I think too, of all the things we think of, you know, and Monique, you know, the politics and everything. You know, we get all wound up in that, but our citizenship's in heaven, and that's in the background. If we get wound up about all the politics and things, usually the Lord thumps me and says, you're not from around here. You know, we don't have, in heaven, politics. We don't have all the, we don't have all the votes. We don't have all these different things. So when I get off and think things of this earth, usually I get thumped and say, you My citizenship's in heaven. My focus should be up here. I can still be involved in all that, but the background is, I'm not from around here.

So, it was just an attitude in what these things, you know, whatever you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. That's kind of just the general of when you're doing anything, in word or deed, whatever you're doing, whatever you're saying, give thanks to Him. I thought about the Lord's Prayer, and you know, Jesus was always brief, it seems like, in what He had to say, but almost the first thing He said is, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. And then you get in the So it should always be first with us, and I'm sure, I'm not saying that it is, but it should always be first that we're thinking about our part in bringing in the kingdom, because that's such a precedent that he's saying.

I actually wanted to answer this one for the Lord's Prayer, right? You mean that that was written for the Jewish people? I'm so happy when you went to the bookstore. That's one of my favorite stories. We talked about the real Lord's Prayer is John 17. And when we talked about it, I thought your eyes were going to just slay me when I said that. But a week later, you're telling somebody at the bookstore that that's not the Lord's Prayer. It's John 17. And the guy was, where did you learn that? That's for the Jewish kingdom. He said, teach us how to pray, and that's what he said. Yeah, but that was the disciples.

For us, it's John 17, that's where we really look, is our union, and that's really the Lord's Prayer. And that really shows, and actually I use some of the verses on that later, I think, on our union with Him, and what that means, and our being revealed in glory, and Him sharing His glory, and all those different things. Those are the things we focus on. Read John 17 and see what we have. The union with Him, the intimacy, the sharing of glory. Those are the things we focus on. It is that part of it.

The normal Lord's Prayer is for the Jews. If you think about that, it really doesn't fit with our identification with Christ. When you start talking about I can't even remember it right now. Hell will be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. On earth as it is in heaven. The direction is different. What the Our Father is about is bringing the kingdom here. What these verses are about is me going there. Right. And that's what I say. The normal, what people call the Lord's Prayer, that's all about the kingdom here for the Jews.

Ours, what we're looking at in Colossians, remember Colossians is basically man looking to the heavenlies. Ephesians is the other way around. It's us seated in the heavenlies and what we have there and looking down. So this is looking to the heavenlies and where our place is. We're positioned in the name of Christ. Where is he? In the heavenlies. All right, let's move on here, unless there's others.

Let's go to question seven, I think is where we're at. Everybody get the seek and set your mind on? I think we covered those last week. So question seven. So what are the things? And where does one go to find the things? Remember, set your mind on things above. Seek the things above. You're going to Colossians 3. Well that's a good answer, I can't argue with that. So what are the things? Spiritual truths, realities, heavenly things. Heavenly things?

So I think I touched on this last week a little bit. Does this mean we're looking at mansions in heaven? We're looking at our accommodations up there? We're looking at all the cool things in heaven? No. We look at God. We look at Christ. We are in Christ. Right. When we look at these things, we're looking at Christ seated at the right hand. Those are the things. I think I talked about it last week. We kind of had a two-fold description of seeking and setting. Things above. So that's the general. Those are where we seek. But the specifics were where Christ is seated. That's the specifics.

We look generally to the heavenlies or to heaven for the spiritual things, but our focus is where? In the heavenlies. Not on just the general, but we're to focus on Christ. So to find these things, what basic things do we need to find those things? How do you find us? It just shows up on Friday? Belief and faith. Faith? Holy Spirit. God's Word.

Those are the two primary things. You need to know the Word and the Holy Spirit is the one that convinces and convicts you of those truths. So, I looked at 1 Corinthians 2, 12 and 13. So it says, now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. Again, that we may know the things freely given to us by God. So again, what is the things? Name one thing. Boy, you guys are a myth. How about righteousness? Righteousness? Grace? Dead in Christ? Alive and dead in Christ? Dead in Christ and alive with him?

No. What was that? No. The things are very simple. the personal characteristics of the Lord Jesus himself. If I said, seek those things of Jack McBride, what would I be looking for? I wouldn't be looking for his address or the clothes he wore. I wanted to know him personally. What are the things about him that make him who he is? What are the things about the Lord Jesus Christ that makes Him who He is?

The way I put it is, going back to what this whole passage is focused on, it's about our death, resurrection, and Jesus' identification. The focus is on our union with Him. And if we are identified or have intimate union with Him, what are the things we are to seek and to set our mind on? Everything about Christ. Everything about Christ. Everything about Him. Eternal life is to know Him.

1 Peter 3.18, grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Grow in the grace and knowledge, knowledge of Him. So is it his whole being, his attributes?

It's everything. It's, as Mike said, if I want to get to know you... My whole being. I spend time with you. My whole focus is on you. To figure out everything about you. Love always has an object. And if the Lord is your object of love, you're going to spend all your time trying to get to know that person. Everything about him.

The beauty of this fact is, if we know Him and get to know Him, what do we also discover? We become like Him. That's who we are. Our very life is Christ. If we get to know Christ and everything about Him, we get to know who we are. Our very life is Christ. Doesn't that behoove us to figure out who he is? All about him? Because then we find out about who we are in Christ. Yesterday, Courtney and I went to a wedding. And you know what's interesting about a wedding? A man and a woman get married and they're going to live together now.

And they're going to spend however many years they have finding out about each other. They already know how tall they are and that they like to ride bikes or whatever. But what they don't know is the secrets of each other's heart. And that's what they're going to learn over the years. That's what this is about. To find out the secrets of the Lord Jesus' heart about you. And that analogy really holds.

We are the bridegroom of We're the bride, excuse me, the bridegroom. Sorry. Erase that. We are the bride of Christ. He's the bridegroom. Do we want to know about that marriage? Do you? Yes. Yeah, I think this gets, you know, We want to know everything about Christ.

This gets back to what I've said repeatedly. We have to have faith in what God told us is true about us. Since we have union with God, with the God of the universe, and He wants us to have intimate fellowship with Him, the things are all related to Christ. And our relationship with Him, our union with Him. That's why I encourage you to go back in John 17. That really hits it hard about our intimacy with Him and what He wants from us.

And I'll get down to some of those verses a little later. About that intimacy with Christ. I always go back to that Abba Father, Daddy. Daddy. That's the intimacy He wants. And if He wants that intimacy, we should have that desire to know everything about Him.

And the access is through Christ. And I just, you know, it always comes back to that thing, faith. Do you believe this is true of you? That you have the death, burial and resurrect, co-crucifix, the edemic is taken care of positionally? Positionally now we are placed in Christ, in the heavenlies. That's where our focus and our setting, our mind should be.

There are so many things in the first chapter about the personal characteristics of Christ. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creation. All things are created by Him and on and on before Him all things. By Him all things consist. He is the head of the body, the church, and He has made peace through the blood of His cross. There are just innumerable And that's the thing that I think the Holy Spirit is convincing and convicting of.

Do you understand that relationship? The God of the universe, you have an intimate relationship with him. That's amazing. When you really begin to understand that, when the Holy Spirit convicts you of that, you have an intimate relationship with the God of the universe. How does that happen when you're having a bad day? Does it consider it all joy? You can understand because He is in control.

It's always testing your faith, remember that. But it's the faith and trusting in who you are in Christ. And the object is always Christ. Everything about Christ, that's what these verses setting and saying. The last thing is, what are these sayings? I go back to the verses. Therefore, if you've been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated. Where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Set your mind on things above, not things that are on the earth. Again, our focus is on Christ. If our focus is on Christ, that's where we begin to be conformed, we understand who we are, we have the mind of Christ, all these different things. When we focus on Him, that's where our focus should be, setting our mind on. Moving on to question eight. Does a life that is tempted, attacked by sin, weak, fearful, powerless, and guilty exist any longer to fade? Yes? Any yeses? Nos? No. Maybes? You people who straddle the middle? No. No!

You know, I went to Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

You know, when you're attacked, when you're whatever, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Remember, our battle is always in faith. It's faith, what is true about us. All the battles we have is about believing what is true about us. So, I said, if we have intimate fellowship with Christ and know by faith that God sees me right now in Christ in the heavenlies, does the life that is tempted, attacked by sin, weak, fearful, powerless and guilty exist any longer to faith? No. If you understand that, all the attacks, all the different things, it doesn't exist to the person who by faith understands their position in Christ.

Okay? Next one. Where is the new life located? With Christ in God. West Colfax. In our heart. In our heart. Interesting. And mind. And mind, okay. I'm just reading. It's a new life. It's a brand new life. We have a brand new life. Positionally, we're in the heavenlies. Conditionally, we're here. But it's a new life. New in kind. New in quality. Brand new. Where is it? West Colfax. East Colfax. Where's the new life?

It's hidden with Christ in God. Hidden with Christ in God. And we're going to touch on that too later. Hidden with, in Christ, in God. Yeah, Frances. I just always have some trouble remembering whether it's hidden with Christ in God or hidden with God in Christ. And I'm just, is that some lack of understanding on my part that I have? We'll touch on that. And really, it's in Christ in God. I'll touch on that a little bit later, what that means. The double benefit of that.

So, I said for where the new life is located, Ephesians 2, 4-6. But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgression, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. and raised us up, that's Aorist active indicative, it's a fact, past completed, raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Okay? Again, that's Aorist active indicative. It's a fact. We have been raised up and seated with Him in the heavenly places where? In Christ Jesus. Okay?

Also from the Colossians, verses 3-1. Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Again, if we are in Him, He is seated at the right hand. So, where does God recognize us positionally? In Christ, seated in the heavenlies.

I touched on this one too. What additional thought from verse 3, additional thought or security do you get? For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. I was going to touch this word we're talking about. First is that our life is hidden in Christ. The verse goes on further and says that we are in Christ, hidden in God. Think about that when we get at the question 11, what security we have and intimacy we have. We have been placed into Christ and then hidden in God. And positionally we live there, from the Ephesians verse. So we have been positioned in Christ and then into God. How much more security do you want? We've been placed into Christ, in the heavenlies, and hidden in God. Why is it the right hand of God?

You know, there's something about the right hand. It's a position of honor. Yeah, honor. I think the right hand is a position of honor. I don't know all that. Is that from the... Well, and the fact that it isn't seated at the right hand of God in heaven as a human being. Yeah. This is the Lord Jesus Christ himself who has you know, past the middle heavens. He's got a body and a soul and there he is. But the right hand, it's the right side versus the left hand. The right hand is his position of favor and authority.

Yeah. And I don't, you know, I have to dig into that. I know that, I don't know where exactly is that from, Jewish or where that is, but my understanding is that right hand is always position of honor or power. That was the position of honor. So if we're positioned in Christ and hidden in God, and we live where they live, is there a more secure position than that? What more do you want? You need something more? Is that not quite good enough? How secure are you? To me, it was the double. It was the second lock on there. You're hidden in Christ, but then hidden in God.

All right. Now, must you die Question 10, must you die or are you dead? We're dead. Dead? We're dead, but we're risen with Christ. We're dead. So are you, must you die or are you dead? You're dead, right? From a positional sense, we're dead. What does that mean? I'm dead. Well, I've been crucified with Christ and I no longer live. Christ lives in me. Perfect. The life I live in the body I live by Christ who died and gave his life for me. By faith.

So, it is death. What does death mean? Separation. So we've been separated from what? The old man. Positionally. And again, remember position is a fact, something that can't be changed. It's eternally true. So position, we have been separated positionally from our old man.

Okay? So, I went through a whole bunch of different verses on that. And then, in the passage, 3 verse 3, For you have died, have died, that's eros indicative, Again, past. You have died. Past tense. And your life is hidden with Christ and God. If you look at 2 Corinthians 5, 17 and 18. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things passed away. Past tense. Behold, new things have come. Perfect tense. So, the old things passed away. Romans 6, 6 and 7. Knowing this, that our old self was crucified. Okay? Aorist indicative. Past. Fact. Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died, past or aorist tense, is freed from sin.

Romans 6.11. Even so, consider present imperative, so that's continuous now in lead action.

Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Dead and then alive to God. This shows the conditional where we reckon or consider ourselves dead now, present imperative and alive under God, present active. Okay, so we're to consider ourselves dead and then what? Alive to God. So again, all these point to what? That we must die or we have died? We have. Have. Past tense. Veris.

So, you don't have to die. You have died. When you believe, you are co-crucified. And I remember when Mike, first known Mike, and he said, you know, I think you said you witnessed this. Just read those verses. And what does that mean? And I've been a believer for years, and when you look at that, and you see, knowing this, that our old self was crucified. Was. Huh? Our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be done away with, so we'd no longer be slaves of sin, for he who has died is freed from sin? Well, what did that mean? The old self was crucified? I didn't understand that at all, but reading it, it's telling me, was, was. And I wasn't looking at the Greek, I was just, was. Knowing this, that our old self was crucified? What did that mean?

Which then it really opens up a lot of the identification truths to understand that. Our co-crucifixion with Christ, positionally. Our separation, positionally and judicially, happened at the cross. All of us who were believers happened at that time, passed, were crucified. And then we were placed into Him, and I'll get into some of those verses a little bit later. I'll have a little bit next. Placed into Him, baptized into His death, placed into His death. And then we were raised, new life.

Understanding, this is the key, and I had, I remember in our identification class, I had a whole lesson about verses that don't make any sense if you don't understand identification. How did, you know, the verses about, it's not I that live, but Christ live me.

Well, wait a minute. How does that happen? A whole bunch of these things are citizenships in heaven. Well, how did I get there? And that's now. It's not past tense. Our citizenship is in heaven. How did I get there? Did they get a passport somewhere?

All these things, there are so many verses that if you understand our co-crucifixion with him, our separation, from the old and then the new. The verses about it were new in kind, new in quality. It isn't a refurbished old man. It isn't an old man that got, when we believe, dusted off the old man and polished him up and now we can do all those good things. These verses tell us we were co-crucified, done with, and now we have a new creature, a new life, in Christ, brand new. And the Greek words, basically, it's new in kind and quality. It's not a refurbished old man. It's a brand new one.

And our life's in Christ. So, again, these verses, when you read them, just go through Romans, like I said, and read them, and see if they make sense, if you don't understand our co-crucifixion with Him. Question 11. What is the practical effect of Colossians 3, 1-3 in the believer's experience? What's the practical end?

Nothing, right? You guys skated over this and it means nothing, right? Yeah. I don't know if this is relevant, but for me, it's an assurance that God knows all about me, about my present. He said that I'm dead. We just talked about that. That's a past and a present. We're hidden with Christ and God, and in the future we will be manifested with Him in glory.

That's all in these verses. And so there's so much assurance in that, I think. He's taken care of everything. Absolutely. You know, and again, putting it back, you know, there's power verse. I hit him hard on the Colossians 1. In Him all things hold together. I mean, what does that entail?

All the things we saw in chapter 1 are fantastic, and then you get to these where it tells us we have been crucified, we're dead, we're raised up, and then the present is we're to set our minds on things above, seek those things above, but then in the future is verse 4. We're to be revealed in glory with them. I mean, this covers the whole gamut, past, present, and future in these verses about believers. Very powerful verses, these 3, 1 through 4. That's all these verses hit, is our union with Him. And that's where, like I said, if you really want to go back, I love in John 17, it really pounds that union. And all I am He, we and it. were inseparably linked to him and the Father. And these are again hidden with Christ in God. Nothing we did. So I just went back on this if we look at the passage as a whole.

Therefore, if you've been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is seated, the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things that are on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." Whew! When you die, are you immediately in heaven?

Or, do you have to wait until Christ comes? Oh, perfect question. Before I answer, anybody else? So, are we now? The minute you believe, or do we have to wait? The other way around. Positionally we're there, conditionally we're not. That's the whole thing about position and condition. Position right now is true about us right now.

The minute you believed, you were seated in the heavenlies in Christ. Immediately. Positionally, that's how God sees you at that moment. From that moment on, He only sees you in Christ. Positionally, that's how God, and I've used the wedding analogy and those type of things, where that's all He can see us now, from the moment you believe, is all He can see is in Christ. Positionally, you're seated, just what these verses are saying. Positionally, right now, God sees us seated with Christ, in Christ, hidden in God. That's how He sees us right now.

Conditionally, we are here, and we still have the two natures. You know, walk in the flesh, walk in the spirit. We still struggle with that, conditionally. But that doesn't change anything about our position. So it's a real important concept about position and condition. What our position are, and we've handed out several times, the Lewis Barry Chaffer has something like 33 things that are true about you the instant you believe. Those are true and can't be changed. And so, We don't wait. Okay. Well, this verse 4, you know, when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will appear with Him in glory. That's what confused me. I was thinking, I thought I was already there, but do I have to wait until He comes?

The final revealing will be when we step into eternity. There will be a time when the Lord Jesus is revealed to the creation in glory. all of the glory will be radiated out of him, you're going to be the same way. It isn't that he's holding back, it's that until he's revealed to the creation as a glorified man, when that happens, you will be just like him. Exactly like him. But that's after we stepped into eternity, because he won't be revealed until we... Well, it won't even be when you step into eternity. You'll still be waiting until he is revealed in glory, which is when he comes to rule and reign, I think.

What? The second coming? The second coming of Christ. He will be revealed in all of his glory at that point to all of the creation. Oh, okay. The life is now hidden. waiting for that time, and the glory is not a place, it's a manifestation of who he is as the glorified second person of the Trinity who is now a man. Is that when every knee shall bow? No, that would be at the Great White Throne, a thousand years later.

To piggyback on that, would it work also to say that we are present with him? but it's not revealed to creation that we are present with him until he appears. Yes, we begin to see the glory now, but none of the creation does, because the life is hidden. But you and I get to begin to see the Lord Jesus Christ glorified, and that's where the conformity takes place, but nobody else sees it. Nobody else. Okay, we need to close here. We've got a campy little thing we've got to get ready for. in the next service, so let's close.

So we'll finish up the questions and the supplemental ones that you have for 15. If you don't have them, there's a copy in the back. We have a couple ones just so we can pull in verse 4 in this section, because they actually all go together a little bit better if we don't break those up. So pick up the supplemental on the back, or if you haven't gotten the email, get it from Mike. All right, let's close.

Heavenly Father, we again thank you. We thank you for all these truths. Again, we just are amazed and comforted by all the facts that you provide to us about who we are in Christ, hidden with Christ in God. Those are incredibly powerful verses and just words that give us great comfort that we are positionally in Christ, in God. And that the security that we have in that and that again for us now to seek and set our minds on things above and the things are your son. everything about your son and we just thank you again for your word and the Holy Spirit who convicts and convinces of these truths and father we just again thank you for this time again anytime we can open up your word and fellowship around your word we just thank you for those opportunities we do pray for Vern in the next meeting just to clearly present your word and prepare hearts to receive it and father we do all these things in the name of your son the Lord Jesus amen