Look Up First | Pastor Chris Kouba | United City Church

How about we stand this morning? Is anybody excited to be in the house of the Lord and to worship Him this morning? If you are, can you just put your hands together for just a second? It is good to be in the house of the Lord with the people of the Lord. We want to say good morning to all of our first time guests in the room. If you're with us, thank you so much for being with us. Church, one more time. We put our hands together and say thank you to the folks that would choose to join us this morning. Hey, we want to introduce you guys to a new song. It's called, "I Know That I Know That Jesus You'll Never Let Me Go." The scriptures say that the name of the Lord is a strong tower and the righteous run to it and are saved. So we want to teach you the bridge before we begin to go something like this. ♪ I won't stand no words of a man ♪ ♪ God, I'll stand on yours instead ♪ ♪ 'Cause all my love, all my faith ♪ ♪ All of it's in your heart, ain't ♪ ♪ And the world came out tonight ♪ ♪ All that you've done in my life ♪ ♪ 'Cause all of my death, all of my praise ♪ ♪ All of the love, Jesus, I'll stand ♪ ♪ You try, I won't stand no words of a man ♪ ♪ God, I'll stand on yours instead ♪

♪ 'Cause all of my hope, and all of my faith ♪ ♪ All of it's in your heart, ain't ♪ ♪ And the world came out tonight ♪ ♪ All that you've done in my life ♪ ♪ All of my days, all of my praise ♪ ♪ All of the little Jesus' name ♪ ♪ So can we lift His name this morning together ♪ ♪ 10 o'clock, can we lift the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ That's worship ♪ ♪ Clear worship, you Jesus ♪ ♪ You've been good, good for all my life ♪ ♪ So nothing could ever change my mind ♪ ♪ You never break your promise ♪ ♪ You're constant in all you do ♪ ♪ 'Cause yours is the way, the truth ♪ ♪ The light that I will choose ♪ ♪ Oh, I know that I know ♪ ♪ You won't ever let me go ♪ ♪ Every low, every high ♪ ♪ You are faithful all the time ♪ ♪ I've changed it and I've seen ♪ ♪ You've been so, so good for me ♪ ♪ 'Cause I know that I know ♪ ♪ Faithful all the time ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Faithful all the time ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ And I'm hopeful to the left or right ♪ ♪ That's right ♪

♪ And I will keep heaven in my sight ♪ ♪ And no one will not be shaken ♪ ♪ Nothing is moving in me ♪ ♪ I've got a faith that's yours ♪ ♪ But things I cannot see ♪ ♪ No, I know that I know ♪ ♪ You won't ever let me go ♪ ♪ Every low, every high ♪ ♪ You are faithful all the time ♪ ♪ That's right ♪ ♪ I've changed it and I've seen ♪ ♪ You've been so, so good for me ♪ ♪ God, I know that I know ♪ ♪ You're faithful, faithful all the time ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ That's right ♪ ♪ Faithful all the time ♪ ♪ All right, 10 o'clock, here's the fortune ♪ ♪ Oh, we think I won't stand ♪ ♪ I won't stand no words of a man ♪ ♪ God, I'll stand on yours and why ♪ ♪ 'Cause no more hope can no more faith ♪ ♪ Home of it in your morning ♪ ♪ And the world cannot deny ♪ ♪ All that you've done in my life ♪ ♪ Home of my days and all of my praise ♪ ♪ Home of it in Jesus' name ♪ ♪ I won't stand no words of a man ♪ ♪ That's right ♪ ♪ God, I'll stand on yours and stand ♪

♪ 'Cause all of my hope and all of my faith ♪ ♪ Home of it in your morning ♪ ♪ And the world cannot deny ♪ ♪ All that you've done in my life ♪ ♪ 'Cause all of my days and all of my praise ♪ ♪ Home of it in Jesus' name ♪ [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Hey, man, he is faithful, church, he is faithful to you. He's been good to you for all of your days. And because of that, we get to lift his name, it is so good to be in the house of the Lord, the people of the Lord on this today. The Lord has made it before we go in and further. We just want to take 10 seconds and just fix our eyes on Jesus. It can be a lot getting into the room. So right now, wherever you are, I'm not sure what you're walking in with, but I know what you're walking into. [MUSIC] And it can be the presence of the living God who has his eyes fixed on you, which is waiting for you to look at him. So can we fix our eyes this morning? Can we lift our eyes this morning? Can we turn our eyes this morning to King Jesus? [MUSIC] [MUSIC]

[MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] You may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Would you buy your heads in prayer with me? What I want to ask you to do is I want you to get your hands and I want you, first of all, just to cover up your eyes. Just put your hands over your eyes. Father there have been things that we have let in to our minds and our hearts this week through our eyes That are not of you We confess that to you We ask for your cleansing in our lives We ask God that you would give us eyes to see others That we would be able to focus on you and we could focus on the needs of others instead of ourselves Would you take your hands and would you put them over your ears? You have so much noise If so much clutter If so much distraction It's like We're wearing earplugs And when God wants to speak to us we can faintly hear something out there, but there's so much clogging our ears We can't hear him what you just in the quietness of where you are would you just ask that God would let you hear his voice He would remove the distractions

I want you to put your hands on your head Let this represent your mind the Bible tells us that we are to have a transformed mind Transform life that happens by the renewal of our minds so father we come before you and we ask that we could hear And absorb what you want to speak to us today God would you allow the words of the songs of worship the words of your scriptures Lord to be able to be heard clearly God I pray you would purify our minds So we would hear from you I Want you to put your hand over your mouth The Bible says that our tongue can speak life and death Father we want to speak of life today Lord, I pray that we would be able in the words that we say in the songs that we sing Bring honor and glory to you Would you put your palms up and out in front of you? I want this to represent your hands represent your feet God not only cares about what we listen to and what we see and what we hear But he wants us to walk in holiness. So father we come before you today and we submit ourselves to you. We say yes We desire Lord to walk in holiness We recognize that this your presence is in this place We are standing on holy ground so Lord. I pray that you would take the actions That we do and we leave this place May they be acceptable Because ultimately we know that you are good you're perfect your will is pleasing It's in Jesus name I pray Amen I I thought you feel me in the crowd who knew you'd make good my mistakes You're nothing like I thought you were you then what a God would see you rightly what a God would have got? He's so holy what a God what a God What a God what a God oh you are

I thought you sure perfection is what kind of God is for us? They say it's so good for us in earth. Oh, but you said no it's not no it's not You say no it's not no it's not what a God is I? Yeah What a God ♪ You are the one inside ♪ If the highest place I reach is at your feet Then I've done it all If the best thing that I've seen is your glory Then I've seen it all Your love has changed my life For at the sight is fine You are my everything If the highest place I reach is at your feet Then I've done it all If the best thing that I've seen is your glory Then I've seen it all Your love has changed my life For at the sight is fine You are my everything If one one is the only thing you see Then I've been afraid of if I feel your heart never see your head I still have it all No treasure of his life Could ever satisfy God You are my everything If God you are my everything If God you are my everything If God you are my everything If God you are my everything When I've done it all

If the highest place I reach is at your feet Then I've done it all If the best thing that I've seen is your glory Then I've seen it all Your love has changed my life For at the sight is fine You are my everything If one one is the only thing you see Then I've heard it all If I feel your heart never see your head I still have it all No treasure of his life Could ever satisfy God You are my everything If God you are my everything If God you are my everything If the highest place I reach is at your feet Then I've done it all If the best thing that I've seen is your glory Then I've seen it all Your love has changed my life For at the sight is fine You are my everything If one word is the only thing you see Then I've heard it all If I feel your heart never see your head I still have it all No treasure of his life Could ever satisfy God You are my everything

If God you are my everything If God you are my everything If God you are my everything ♪ You say that one more time, God, you are mine ♪ ♪ You say that one more time, God, you are mine ♪ ♪ You say that one more time, God, you are mine ♪ ♪ You're everything and more, you're mine ♪ ♪ Open my eyes so I can see ♪ ♪ Open my eyes so I can see ♪ (gasping) Say, you're in the eyes of my heart, oh, I wanna see you. Say, you're in the light of your glory. Hold out your power, let out your light. We see, holy, holy, holy, see you, I wanna see you, I wanna see you. Say, you're in the light of your glory. Hold out your power, let out your light. And so we see, holy, holy, holy, holy. Hold out your power, let out your light. We see, holy, holy, holy, holy. Holy, holy, holy, holy, I wanna see you. Say, you're in the eyes of my heart, oh, I wanna see you. Say, you're in the eyes of my heart, oh, I wanna see you. Say, you're in the eyes of my heart, oh, I wanna see you. I want to see you. Say, holy, holy, holy. Come on, left your hands, we cry, holy. Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, I wanna see you. Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy. Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy. Well, good morning to the clock, how we doing?

Hey, grab your bibles, open them up to Colossians chapter 3, Colossians chapter 3. I wanna do a little bit of housekeeping before we get to into the message today. One, we've got for you men, a couple things that I wanna make sure on your radar. Tonight is our men's night. I wanna make sure that you know about this, that you are registered for this. If you have not yet registered, it is not too late for you to come and to invite someone else to come and be a part of this. We're gonna be grilling out. We're gonna be watching some football, we're gonna hear a challenging message, we're gonna be hanging out. It's gonna be a lot of fun, you don't wanna miss it, you can register there at the QR code tonight. One, we're gonna be here at the clock, is when everything will begin, it will be a really, really good time to be together. And then also on Tuesday, I wanna let you know that we are relaunching the Step Up Podcast. I've done two seasons so far of the Step Up Podcast designed specifically for men. And so we are launching season three, coming up this coming Tuesday, and so therefore if you subscribe to that, on either any places that you get podcasts, whether that be Apple, whether that be Spotify, whether that be YouTube, subscribe so that you can listen in. We're certainly excited, we release these every other Tuesday. There are messages that are meant just to help you grow as a man. What does it look like for you to be able to step up in your life, in your faith, in your family, in your work, school, wherever it is that you are, join us for the Step Up Podcast, a way to help you men. Colossians chapter three is where we're gonna be spending some time today. June 1st, 2002, a beautiful young lady. Walked into the back of a church in downtown Dallas. And when she walked in, she had on a wedding dress that she had picked out with her sisters and with her mother. And she came in, the doors swung open and everybody stood up as she walked in the room. I was standing at the end of the aisle and I'd love to tell you that I was super strong and tough and just stood there and just did everything. I immediately wept the moment that I saw her.

I've been waiting for this. I wanted this day to come. I wanted to marry Hillary and now we were just seconds away from it taking place. Her dad walked her down the aisle. He answered the question who gives this woman to be married to this man. He said her mother and I. We then walked up onto the stage and a pastor began to make us face each other and we began to repeat vows to each other. We made promises to each other. We exchanged rings symbolizing the commitment that we were making in that moment. And then he said the words. I now pronounce you husband and wife. He turned us around and he said to the crowd, "I have the privilege to be the first to present to you Mr. and Mrs. Chris Cuba." And then we walked out arm and arm outside of those doors. Hillary walked in as Hillary Haynes. The same girl walked out as Hillary Cuba. One declarative sentence changed everything. Now my name didn't change that day, but let me tell you something my reality did in every single way. In fact, it's wild to think that in one sentence, our status changed, but we realized really quickly the first couple years of marriage. Oh, we have no idea what we're doing. All right?

Maybe you've experienced that whenever you got married and it's exciting because now you're married. Maybe you take on a brand new identity, a brand new name, but what we discovered is, oh wait, we are two people who are trying to figure out what it looks like to live together. We are two people trying to figure out what it means to share a life and an apartment together. And I remember looking at this ring and this ring did two things. One, it told everybody else and the ring that she wore told everybody else that we are taken, that we have been claimed by that other person. And that ring also told us we're here for good. We can't get out of this thing, all right? And there were times early on when we needed that visible reminder because I'm telling you, I don't thought this is now worth it. This is hard. This is difficult. I realized rather quickly that I am a selfish person. And when you're married, you don't get to act like a selfish single person that you were before you got married. Your whole life changes in that moment. But what I want you to see is this. We didn't act married so that one day we could be married. We became married and then are still trying to figure out what that looks like on the back side of it. Hillary would tell you, I'm still learning what it means to be married even today, all right? Here's why I'll bring on this up to you. A lot of us relate to God in the opposite order.

What we think is it works like this. If you get your act together, if you clean up your life, eventually God will claim you as his. And you have been exhausted trying to live a life of impressing God or at least not making him too mad at you. And what you're realizing is that it doesn't lead to any kind of lasting change. But what I want you to know is this, if you follow Jesus, something has happened to you that is more permanent than a wedding. You got a new name and a new identity. And now your responsibility is to spend the rest of your life living out of the identity that has already been established instead of trying to earn an identity that you don't think yet that you have. Here's the question I want you to sit with this morning. What if the most important thing has already happened to you? And you're still learning to live like it. I think that question hits differently depending on who you are in the room. like you haven't made any ground. Some of you know this to be true, but you never think about it. Never once came up on your radar this past week. Some of you are here, and if you're honest, you may say this, I'm not sure anything like that's ever happened to me. I've never had a moment like a wedding when all of a sudden things have radically changed in my life. I'll tell you, if that's you, I'm going to get to you in a minute, and I want you to know that your life can be changed today. Regardless of where you are, though, what I want you to see is in Colossians 3, the Apostle Paul writes to people just like us. He's writing a letter to a church at Colossae that he's never actually visited before, and he's writing to help refute false teachers who had come on to the scene who began to diminish the gospel.

They weren't diminishing the gospel by saying the gospel is not true. They weren't saying that the gospel wasn't good. They weren't saying that the gospel wasn't real. What they were saying was, hey, Jesus is great. We're all about Jesus, but I just want you to know, Jesus is where you start, then you have to add some other things to him. What we've discovered in this series so far is this, is that when you add something to Jesus, you're not actually adding to Jesus, you're replacing Jesus. Jesus plus nothing equals everything. So instead, what we've been encouraged to do is to behold Jesus, to look to Jesus, to see the one who has done all these things for us. What Paul is going to do in beginning in chapter 3 is he's going to begin the transition into how we live. Remember at the end of chapter 2, he began to speak to how even if you feel more, even if you sacrifice more, it isn't going to change anything in your life. In fact, verse 23 of chapter 2, he says that these things are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. He said, the way that you experience change is by holding on to the head, and the head is Jesus Christ. So what I want to do is I want to talk through today the result first, and then I'm going to come back and I'm going to give you the reason. I'm going to read this out of order today for a specific purpose, okay? I'm going to give you the result, and then I'm going to come back and show you the reason. Let's pick up the text in verse 5, and I'm going to ask if you would to stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word together. Colossians chapter 3, let's begin in verse 5 with the first list. He says, "Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you? Well, immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these, you too once walked when you were living in them.

But now you must put them all away, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. You may be seated." I want to show you first the result. Let me tell you a couple of things about the result. First thing I want you to see is what has to go, what has to go. This is a list of all the things that can no longer be in your life if you're a follower of Jesus. He gives us two lists. The first one is private, what you do with your body, what you look at, what you can't stop wanting more of. And the second one is relational, your temper, your mouth, whether you tell the truth. Verse six is a tie between both of the lists and he says this summary statement, "On account of all these things, the wrath of God is coming." Let me make it clear, if you're going to follow Jesus, you can't do this stuff. Like this can't be what is in your life. And what I want you to see particularly in the first list is that our world is trying to shove these things down our throats. They are trying to tell us that your sexual choices are not just something that you do, they are who you are. And Paul says, no, that's not right. Verse nine and ten, you have put off the old self and you've put on the new self. Your identity isn't what you want. Your identity is who you belong to. So if you follow Jesus, I know this may sound crazy, you look differently than everybody else. Like you actually choose to do things with your body differently than everybody else.

You don't sleep around like everybody else. You don't watch and look at the same thing as everybody else. You don't look at things that are unnatural and even though the world tells you to celebrate off the ways of the world. If I'm a follower of Jesus, I should look differently in the way that I view my body and the way that I view everybody else's body. Look at what he says in the same way, you don't talk like everybody else. He mentions a number of things, wrath, anger, malice, slammer, and obscene talk from your mouth. It is a jarring to me to see people who on the one hand claim a relationship and the authority of Jesus in their lives and then speak with vulgar language to God's people. Like I just don't understand it. Like it's amazing to me. I think some people cuss just a little bit just to try to make sure people know they're not overly spiritual. Like you just throw a cuss word in there just to kind of like make you keep you honest or something. Please hear me. God's word is very clear. That's not us. That's not what we do. We don't tell jokes like everybody else. We don't respond in anger the way that everybody else does. We don't live this way. Folks, we know this is clear. I want you to think about it. If you have somebody that you know who goes and he gets married and then three months after his wedding, you see that he is going back to the same bars that he used to go to whenever he was single. You see that he's texting girls that he used to text whenever he was single. You see that he's engaging in behavior that he used to do whenever he was single. I don't have to tell anybody in here that's not okay. You would look at that and say dude you're married. You don't do that anymore. We can tell there's a discrepancy between the ring on your finger and the life that you live. Please hear me. The same thing should be true if we are believers. We should not act like everybody else. We don't do the same things as everybody else. Why? Because ultimately we've got the new identity. We've got the new name. We've got the ring that signifies I'm committed. I'm taken by somebody else. He then moves on and he tells us the flip side what we're to put on. Verse 12, put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, impatience. Bearing with one another and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you so you also must forgive. The second result that I want you to see in this passage of a changed life is not only what has to go but what has to come. He tells us what has to come. I love it. He starts off there in verse 12 before he hands you a single thing to put on. He tells you who you are. You are chosen. You are

holy. You are beloved. Your identity is first. Then you put on the clothes. If you remember we did this a couple of months ago. I used the illustration of some clothes and I said there's some things that we're supposed to take off and there's some things that we're supposed to put on. The things we're supposed to put on. Our compassion and kindness and humility and meekness which we don't hear a lot about. It's strength under control and patience. You bear with people. You forgive people. Forgiven people. Forgive people. He keeps going. Look in verse 14 and above all these put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful. Let the word of Christ well rich you and you richly teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. Seeing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. Giving thanks to God the Father through him. This is the evidence of a changed life that all of us should want. Love holding it all together. The peace of Christ calling the shots in your heart. God's word living in you and everything being done in the name of Jesus. It's beautiful. It's a crazy high bar that you will never be able to get to at times. It feels impossible but here's what I want you to see. You don't achieve that life by starting at verse 5 and starting at verse 12. So many of us have at times given up on the church because we feel like all we get when we go to church is a list of the things you don't do and a list of the things you just do and you're judged for it. I started wearing one of those little wearable things that kind of tells you all your stats and your tracks and all the different things and things like that and basically what I've discovered is I don't ever sleep. That's basically what it's told me. All right. That's frustrating because I thought that I knew I didn't have as much sleep as I wanted but I didn't In fact, it's telling me now about my sleep debt. So basically it's like adding it up. And it's telling me recommended bedtimes. I'm at like 4 p.m. right now in order to make up my sleep debt. It's not going to happen. And part of me is like, this thing's stupid. I don't even want to wear it anyway, right? I don't want you to know how bad I am.

Some of you think that's exactly what church is. It's going to get more of a debt. All I'm going to do is go and they're going to tell me how bad I am. All I'm going to do is tell me what I've done wrong. All I'm going to do is tell me about all the things that I needed to do that I didn't do. And they're just going to keep racking up this debt. And at some point you're like, this thing's done. I'm not going to even go anymore. What I want you to see in this passage is this. Verse 5 and verse 12 and the list that it gives are very important. But if you start there, you're going to find yourself just racking up more debt. Instead, look at what it says. It says put to death therefore, verse 5. Put on then, verse 12. These are referring you back to a greater truth that is the actual reason for why you're supposed to live this way. I want you to remember this, OK? It's like the wedding. I don't act married so that I could be married. I get married and then I act in light of the new status and the new identity and the new ring that I now have on my finger. The same thing is true in your relationship with the Lord. Here's the main thing I want you to walk away from this message today is this. Look up before you clean up. Look up before you clean up. The whole idea of the series is that we would behold the person of Jesus. We would see that he is all sufficient for all things. He is above all things. He is the image of the invisible God.

And in him, all things hold together. The idea is not that we would analyze our lives over and over again and judge ourselves based on how we did. But instead, that we would look at the perfect sacrifice of Jesus, the perfect life of Jesus and seeing him in all of his glory and all of his grander would be the motivation to then put off the things that I need to put off and to put on the things that I need to put on. Go back to the reason in verse 1 of Colossians chapter 3. If then you have been raised with Christ, let these words sit over you, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Verses 1 and 2 shows us where this new life comes from. First, it shows us where Christ is. Where Christ is, don't let the little word if at the beginning of the verse throw you. Paul isn't wondering whether it happened. The way he writes it assumes that it's true, so you can almost hear it as saying. Since then, you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above. He's saying this, this isn't a maybe, it's a done deal. He's telling them about their status. He's telling them what is now true about them. They've been raised with Christ, and because they've been raised with Christ, they should seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. I recently got a brand new credit card for United Credit Card. I just kind of started running the numbers and realized that I travel enough, and I've had to pay for enough baggage that at the end of the day, I basically would save money if I just paid the annual fee for a higher credit card and got free bags. So I was traveling a couple of weeks ago, and I went up to the gate, and they said it was going to be $110 for my bags, and I'm like,

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no. That's not true. I got status, and I flashed my card at them." Those things should be free. Not only should they be free, I should be the first one to get my bags when I get off of them. I'm telling you, I paid a lot of money for this status, all right? And guess what? My wife who's with me, she gets status, too, and she didn't pay a dime. I did, all right? She's a me. Folks that I need you to know is this. You get complimentary status, not because you're a big deal, because he's a big deal. You're with him. And so instead of you having to pay, What he's saying is this, you need to look to his status. Where's he at? He's seated at the right hand of the throne of God. I'm with him. I'm running his coattails. Look, he paid the debt that I couldn't pay. And so therefore, look, I not only get free bags, I get them first in line. That's what I get. All because of his status too often, we're wondering about our status when we should be focusing on his status. Psalm chapter one, 10 verse one says, "The Lord says to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your but still.' Please hear me. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Not wondering whether he has power and authority over all the things that challenge us.

He is comfortable in his seat there. And the Bible says that we have been united with Christ. We've experienced his death in our lives. We've experienced his resurrection in our lives. And we get to look up and see him where he is seated in all of his authority. And this doesn't mean that we just look up there and avoid life. Remember, verses five through 17 are real earthy. It's real practical. It's saying this, I look up and see where Jesus is seated. And as a result of that, I don't talk like I don't look at the throne. I instead talk with respect and honor showing that because I'm with him, I don't talk like I used to talk. I don't live like I used to live. I show compassion and kindness and forgive people who at the end of the day, I don't like to forgive. But you know what, because I'm with him where he is, I know all that he's forgiven me. And so therefore I'm gonna forgive you. I'm not gonna hold you to a standard that he never held me to in the first place. Have you ever recorded a game and somebody walks up to you and they spoil it? You know what I mean? Like you're gonna record the game and you're gonna watch it later and maybe you're out in public. And then all of a sudden somebody walks up to you

and is like, dude, did you see that comeback? Are you kidding me? And you're like, ah, I was recording the game. You just blew it for me, right? And so then when you go back and you actually watch the game, it's a totally different experience. I mean, you're not nearly as uptight, you're not nearly as worked up or all that takes place. Let's say you're watching the game third quarter, your quarterback drops back, he throws an interception, they run it all the way back, pick six, you go down by two touchdowns. And at that point you're like, well, that's kind of interesting, but at the end of the day, I know they're gonna come back. I don't know how they're gonna come back. I just know they're gonna come back. I already know the outcome of the game. And so therefore you watch the play, but you don't get nearly as worked up. Why? Because ultimately you know what the scoreboard says. Verse one and two is the scoreboard. You're gonna have plays in your life. The diagnosis is gonna come up. Your kid is gonna be wayward and they're gonna walk away for a little bit. You're gonna find marital tension,

you're gonna find financial strain, you're gonna have something that's gonna come up. And if you were to judge your life all based upon that play, you're thinking, man, we are doomed, we're gonna lose, I don't know what I'm gonna do. But instead, because I'm looking at the one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, here's what I discover. I know that that play tells me one thing, but I know the scoreboard. I know what the end's gonna be. And so because of that, it allows me to say, okay God, I don't like what's happening right now. And I don't know how you're gonna do it, but I know your word says that you're gonna take things that were meant for evil and you're gonna use them for good. I'm gonna trust, even though I don't like what I'm walking through, I'm gonna trust, because I know the end of the game, I know what the scoreboard says, somebody's already told me the outcome, that in light of that, I'm gonna trust you, even when it's hard, even when it's difficult. Please hear me, if you keep your eyes focused on the one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, you can accept anything that life gives you. If you take your eyes onto your circumstances, you're gonna be one who's a Monday morning quarterback, judging every play based on whether you're up or down.

And what God has said is saying, no, he's there. If then you've been raised, seek the things that are above, set your mind on things that are above. Paul not only tells you, though, to look up, he tells you why your mind belongs there. It's not only because Christ is there, this is what's crazy. Your life is there, too. Look at what it says in verse three, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. The final reason that I want you to see, and not only where Christ is, but where your life is. You It's in the Greek perfect tense, meaning this. It's an action that took place in the past that has bearing for the current day present situation. He's saying, not only have you been hidden, but you stay hidden. The word hidden means concealed now only to be revealed later. Verse four tells us that it would be revealed. That is when Jesus comes back. Think about it like this. A past reality Jesus is death on the cross and resurrection from the dead affects my present thinking because of a future promise. Let me try to show it to you this way.

I want you to think about this reality. When God comes and he finds us, reality is this is actually way too clean. We probably should have pictured this with just wrapped up in duct tape all over the place because when God finds us, all of us are just wrapped in sin. All of us are sinners. All of us fall short of the glory of God. And what happens is that when God comes to us, he begins to offer us the gift of his salvation. And by doing so, we become cleansed. We become new. And so when he finds us, this is where we are. Now a lot of times, this is kind of what we think about. We think about the fact that Christ has done all these wonderful things for us. But here's how we mainly think about it. Oh, that's amazing. Christ is somebody who died for us. He lived a perfect life. He rose from the dead. He gives us the opportunity by believing in him to have eternal life. But we don't think about it that much because we're over here living our lives. Like we got stuff going on. Like we got elections coming up and our phones and our televisions and our radios are filled with people telling us we're devoting for it, right? I mean, we're just constantly getting bombarded.

Like we got stuff, we got life to live. We've got bills to pay. We've got relationships to deal with. We've got work dynamics that we've got to work through. We've got all the different stuff, our schedules, our slam and clear. So when we go to church, then we think about the fact that, oh yeah, Christ has done all these things. That's wonderful. That's great. But at the end of the day, this doesn't typically affect our Tuesday or our Wednesday because at the end of the day, there's just too much going on. But here's what the Bible tells us. The reality is whenever we give our lives to Jesus Christ, when we receive Him into our life, that here's what actually takes place. Christ actually begins to live inside of you. It tells us that in multiple places, Colossians chapter one, it actually tells us that Jesus Christ, the hope of glory lives inside of you. John chapter 14 literally tells us about the gift of the Holy Spirit, which induels us as believers. It literally says it is the spirit of Christ. We are told that the spirit actually helps guide us. The spirit comforts us. The spirit directs us. The spirit confronts us.

We don't like that part. But at the end of the day, we're thankful for it because at times when you have that check in your spirit that you're like, I don't think I should be doing this. And God is using by his spirit, reminding you of the things of Christ to protect you from doing the things that you should not be doing. And we know if this was our reality, and this is all there was, that in and of itself, the fact that Christ lives inside of us is an amazing thing that changes everything about us. But what I want you to see, look back again at verse three. Look at what it says. When Christ says there, when Christ, who is your life, or excuse me, verse three, for you have died and your life is hidden, look at what it says, with Christ. And then what does it say? In God, check this out. This then, in reality, is who we actually are. When God looks at us, this is what he sees. I want you just to think about what the implications of this would be, okay? Some of you are here, and you're thinking, "Man, I'm just a failure. "I don't have anything to offer." Like I know that God saved me, that's great.

But at the end of the day, you can't really use me. I've got a past. I've got shame. I've got things that I don't want anybody to see or to notice. When you say that, do you realize what you're saying? Like ultimately what you're saying is this. God, you're a failure. God, the Father, you failed. God, the Son, you failed. God, the Spirit, you failed. How well can you see yourself? Some of you are judging your worth based upon how you feel, how you performed, how you acted and all along. God is saying, oh, I know all that kind of stuff and I'm still gonna hide you in me. So that your strength to be able to do the things that I'm asking and calling you to do aren't from you. It's from me. What does he say in your weakness? That's when I'm strong. Why? So that everyone can do the grace of our God. Folks, that is the beauty of it. Now, let's think about this. How crazy is it that some of us will wake up tomorrow if this is our reality and will think, then this day is all about me. This day is all about me.

I'm gonna make money today. I'm gonna crush it. I'm gonna go and I'm gonna make it, I'm gonna advance. I'm gonna make sure my name is known. I'm gonna make sure that I'm seen. I mean, how crazy is it that we live as though somehow the whole world orbits around us? Yet we do it all the time. We come over here and we're like, okay, I'll get my little church stuff on the weekend, but I'm gonna live over here. Like every single thing in all of life is all dependent upon me. Please hear me. It ain't about you. You're an extra in his movie. And the sooner we realize that, it allows us to live out what it says in verse 17, whatever you do in word or deep, to everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. And so guess what? If he's gonna make me in a difficult work situation, then I'm gonna live out that difficult work situation in such a way where God gets glory as to how I relate to that difficult work situation. When God gives me blessing, I'm gonna live out of that blessing, not saying, oh yeah, I deserve it. I'm gonna live out of that blessing saying, God, thank you for this blessing.

How can I bless somebody else? What do I need to do? Because this is my reality. I'm gonna live outside of it. Let's think about this when the enemy comes up against some of you and the enemy is real. He says the Bible tells us that he comes to kill, steal, and destroy. And there's no question what the enemy wants to do is to try to take all of this apart and to get you separated and think that the devil is right over here, right up next to you, all by yourself and here. We need to put on the full armor of God. We need to live vigilant lives. We need to be ready against the attacks of the enemies. All those things are true, but make no mistake about it. Do you honestly think the devil has that much control? Like are you kidding me? Do you see all that he's got to go through to get to you? We should stop living lives of fear and instead live lives of boldness. Why? Because at the end of the day, if we've been raised with Christ, then we're with him. We've been hidden with him, with Christ in God. June 1st, 2002, Hillary Haines walked in. Hillary Kubo walked out. And ever since then, we've been living out this new reality and this new identity.

(gentle music) Some of you have started your Christian lives at verse five and verse 12. And in my encouragement to you today, my challenge to you today is to begin in verse one. Since then, you've been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him, glory. Did you buy your heads and close your eyes with me all across the stream? Earlier, some of you said, man, I don't know if this, what you're talking about is something that I've ever experienced. I've never had a wedding date, if you will, where I've had a radical name change, where I've received a new identity. I want you to know that you can only look up to something that you belong to. And Paul wrote this to a people who had died and been raised with Christ, and that doesn't happen by just cleaning yourself up or by sitting in a room like this. It happens when your life gets hidden in his. When he gives you his name, when he changes your identity, when you become his.

Can that be said of you? your life over to Him, making Him your Lord and your Savior, if you're not, I want to invite you to do that right now. I want to ask that you turn from your way of doing things and turn to Him to make a commitment to Him, knowing that He's already done all the work for you. Let's pray this simple prayer right where you are, dear God, I know that I'm a sinner. I believe that you sent your Son Jesus who lived the perfect life that I couldn't live, to die on a cross for my sins, to rise from the dead, and I desire to be hidden in Him. I want Him to come into my life to save me, to forgive me, and I want to take on His identity. Would you save me right now? Would you continue to keep your heads about in your eyes closed in just a moment? I want to ask you to do something bold. We believe in public next steps here in the United States. We're all going to stand, and if you just prayed that prayer with me, we're going to have some folks at the front of the church. We're going to have some folks at the bottom of the risers, and then ask that no one be leaving unless you're making a decision. Would you come? Tell us about your decision. Others, if you need to come and join the United City Church, God's leading you to make this your church home, would you come and lead the way? Maybe others of you need to come and be baptized. This is your public next step of obedience. Maybe you need to get your baptism on the right side of your salvation. You're baptized, and every year you were younger, there was a significant moment in your life, but the Bible is very clear. Baptism is an outward response to an inward change. If you need to get your baptism on the right side of your salvation, you come. Maybe others, if you need prayer today, maybe you're struggling through this. You run to verse 5.

You run to verse 12. You've measured up, and you think that you're on some sort of scale as to where the gods pleased with you or not. You've got some debt that seems like it keeps going. Please hear me today. What you need to do is you need to come back to Jesus and realize He already paid your debt. Receive His forgiveness, receive His mercy, receive His grace. Maybe others, if you have a prayer need, you've got a financial need, you've got a medical need, you've got a relation need, whatever God is doing, we don't want you to walk along. We want you to let us pray with you, and for you, Father, I pray that you'd move in these final moments. You need people to make decisions with boldness and clarity and courage. It's in the powerful name of Jesus that I pray. Amen. What you stand, and as you do, our team is up front. We're at the bottom of these steps. You come, as God is needing you to respond. Come on. Here's going to lead the way. Let this be your prayer as you sing it. Come on. You come. Come on. Here's going to lead the way. Let's go. Here's what I want us to do, I want us to sing that bridge yet again. I want you to listen to the words, to see you high and lifted up. Folks, it's not about your performance, it's not about what you feel, it's not about what you've sacrificed, what you've given up, it's all about beholding the one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Your greatest takeaways know this every week you mess up every week you fail every week you blow it And guess what you still get to look at the one who's seated at the right hand of the throne of God It isn't ashamed of you who invites you to follow him He invites you to receive his goodness and his mercy and his grace So that you can realize that even though you may feel a certain way the reality is you are hidden in him You are you are secure and your status is clear in him So come on church Let's sing that together and that's declared as a song of worship to him who be open up the eyes of our Let's do it God what you doing Yes, you do it What you doing Father Father you are holy You are holy holy holy Thank you father for this reminder today. Thank you for this reminder. We've had all throughout this series in the book of Colossians So father as we look to you We allow our lives to be a reflection Who you are and what you've allowed us to be It's the powerful name of Jesus that I pray Amen church, would you take a seat as we close our service? Church family, can we celebrate just the Holy Spirit moving in our church today and Continue to pray we've got one more service English and then one more with our espionage So we got two being baptized in the next service church. That's certainly worth celebrating I'm gonna go and ask our serve team and ushers to go ahead and come forth support of our service When we get to continue to worship through our ties and through our offerings in church I just want to read this over us this morning. This is 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 Paul writes in these two verses. He says the point is this Whoever so sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever so's bountifully will also reap bountifully Each one must give as he is decided in his heart not reluctantly or under compulsion

For God loves a cheerful giver and God is able to make all grace abound to you So that having all sufficiency in all things at all times You may abound in every good work. You know tonight's city. Thank you for joyfully Giving back unto the Lord which that he's entrusted to use the furthering of his kingdom would take place in and through this church Body if you're here today and perhaps this is your first time. This is kind of a family talk moment Don't feel under compulsion to give But if you would like to give the place or being passed or perhaps you'd like to give online You can utilize the tat-tat in front of you on the chair And you can give online or perhaps even set up a recurring gift And we would just encourage you to follow the teachings of the Bibles. We believe here at United City that the Bible Speaks so the Bible is our guide and we live by it. So thank you church for your joyful generosity If you are a first-time guest today, hopefully you feel welcome in this place church Can we just walk my first-time guest one more time this morning? every week Every week at someone's first step here and just know if you're a guest we have a gift for you And we love the opportunity to get to know you as well as soon as our service is over if you would just take a moment Visit with us at our first-time guest table in the lobby We would love to be able to shake your hand and put a gift in your hand But it would be an honor for us to be able to meet you and greet you in a very personal way Men pastor Chris mentioned it in just a few hours at five o'clock Men's night will just texting me. He was just praying over tonight The spirit would move in a powerful way, but come hungry bring some meat to throw on the grill. We're gonna have a great time Don't miss out Men don't worry about washing your hair. It's not one of those things you got to miss out on you can show up for this And I just want to encourage you bring another guy with you for the journey. It's gonna be a great time The weather's beautiful. Is it not? [MUSIC PLAYING] and ask that we stand up as we close out our service and allow me to just speak

this scripture over us today as a prayer and a blessing to you in Hebrews chapter 13 verses 22-21. Now made the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant equip you with everything good that you may do His will working in us that which is pleasing in His sight that through Jesus Christ the whom be the glory forever and ever amen. Church we love you have a great week today. Hey if you know of someone that needs to hear this message we'd love for you to share that on socials. We love for you to actually go and check out our socials so you can stay up to date on everything happening in the life of the United City and if you need to take the next step we'd love to help you do that as well. Love you guys so much and we'll see you next week. [MUSIC PLAYING]