Heavenly Father, we are gathered here together to continue to study your word. I pray for insights, Lord God, and diligence. Help us to recognize the importance of knowing your word that we do not just coast along from week to week, and not simply to depend on others, but learning how to come to your word, Lord God, and to hear from you directly.

We pray for your grace, we pray for your Holy Spirit to lead and guide us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Alright, so as you probably have noticed that there is a major transition that takes place between chapter 2 and chapter 3. Can somebody tell me what that is?

We mentioned it in the overview study. What is the transition that took place between chapter 2 and chapter 3? Take a guess from what you've seen. Or maybe you remember from our introduction study. Chapter entering into the imperatives. So chapter 1 and 2 predominantly was indicative, basically describing what happened, who he is, who we are in light of that.

So if you look at chapter 3 and 4, it's imperatives of therefore you should do this, therefore this is what you ought to do. So predominant, it doesn't mean every single verse is like that, but it's indicative, this is why you should do what you should be doing, and this is what you should be doing.

Right? Is that just in this book? No. Much of the New Testament is organized exactly in that way. Right? It begins by saying this is what has happened, this is what Jesus has done, this is who he is, therefore this is what you ought to do. Okay? So that's a big transition that's taking place in chapter 3 and 4.

So we've been studying a lot about the gospel, and then now we're going to be talking about the implications of the gospel. Okay? So before we jump into the text itself, I wanted to introduce a couple of study tools. Now, obviously this is not outdated, but the avenue in which you access this is definitely outdated.

So a long time ago when I used to prepare sermons and do Bible study, I would have to get maybe about five or six of these reference books, and again, I didn't actually own them. I had to go to the library, and then I had to get all these, and stack it up, and get the different commentaries, and then as I'm studying, if I have a question, I would open this up, jot the notes down, and then open the other one up, and jot the notes down.

All of this stuff is on either online, or how many of you have a Bible program on your computer? Not internet, but Bible program. Okay, a few of you. If you don't have a Bible program, I know that you can go to the internet, but it is so much more easier, because it just goes much faster, and there's so much more that you can access.

If you have about $100, and you want to invest in a material to help you study the Bible, there's nothing that will help you more than investing in a Bible program. Now, if you have questions about which Bible program, there's one I use, but that's not the most popular one, and then there's ones that are used by pastors, and professors, and sometimes it's too complicated, but there's mid-grade ones, right?

Especially, how many of you use Mac? Really? How many of you use Mac? Okay, if you use Mac, Accordance is a good one that you could use, but I'm going to, I wanted to bring my computer, but I didn't today. One of these days, I'm going to show you what I use, and it's very, very basic, but it saves me a ton of time.

I wanted to introduce to you two reference books. One is Divine Complete Expository Dictionary, right? So, years ago, they put together a reference book, where basically with definitions of all the words, key words that are used in the Bible, and they put definitions on it, and it's linked to a strong number, so they have a number for every single word that is used in the Bible, and then if you look up that number, they'll give you the definition of that, where that word is used, how many times it's used, and how they understood it, in what context, okay?

So, this is the book for that, and this has been around for a long time, but a lot of people who study the Bible on a regular basis, this is what they reference, okay? So, this is one of them, the Vines Dictionary, okay? Again, you can get one of these, and have it in your library, and carry it around in your backpack, and open it up, and go to do that, but if you have a Bible program, all you have to do is just download this onto the Bible program, right?

It's like 15 bucks, 20 bucks, and then whenever you have a question on a word, you just click it, and this will come up, okay? The other one, this is probably what I use on a week-to-week basis more than any other reference book. Every sermon, every Bible study, every time I study the Bible, I reference this, and basically what this is, is gives you key cross-references, okay?

I know that most of your Bibles have something in the middle, and let's say if you have a really important verse, and it'll give you like one or two verses that are related to that verse, this goes through, like let's say if you were looking at John 3, 16, "For God so loved the world," so, you know, where in other parts of the Bible is that phrase used, "God and love," and it'll give you all the references where God's love is mentioned in the Bible.

Now, do you think that would be useful? Extremely useful, right? And so, instead of just giving you two verses, or one or two verses for the verse, it'll break down every phrase, every thought, and it'll list down all the verses, okay? It's not 100% complete, but it's thorough enough where if you are seriously studying the Bible, this is going to help you tremendously, okay?

So, this, again, if you bought this and you carry this around, imagine carrying this thing around every time you study the Bible, but if you have a good Bible program, all you have to do is purchase this and download it, okay? So basically, it's half the cost of annual Disneyland Pass, so if you invest in this, right, in the Bible program, you can easily download it and have eternal value instead of earthly things, okay?

So, seek eternal things instead of the earthly things, all right? So, this is the Vines, this is the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, okay? Revise and expand it. I didn't know, but Esther told me that she was listening to MacArthur, and MacArthur said that this is one reference book that he uses more than any other reference book, okay?

If that helps. I don't care what Pastor Peter says, okay? But John McIler said it, so, okay? All right, so again, this would be tremendously helpful. If you're digging and you really want to study the Bible, this and this is highly recommended. It'll take your Bible study to another level, okay?

I'm just going to leave it up here. If you want to, like, jot it down or take a picture of it, okay, for reference, I'll leave it up here. Okay. All right, so let's look at the text. Remember, the very first thing that we do every week is to, is for sentence structure outline, right?

If you look at it, what are the key words or phrases or ideas that are repeated in this text? Okay, things above. I actually highlighted it for you. I highlighted it and I was going to de-highlight it and I forgot, okay? Christ. How'd you get that? All right, so Christ is the ongoing theme.

Obviously, the whole New Testament, Christ is the ongoing theme, but in this verse, in these verses, right, the outline, raised with Christ, right, to seek where Christ is, we are hidden with Christ, Christ is our life, we will be revealed with Christ, right? So the whole theme or the outline of these four verses is about our relationship with Christ and how that determines our life, okay?

So the outline of what we're looking at today is, verse one, we are raised with Christ, right? Two, seek where Christ is. Three, we are hidden with Christ. Four, our life is in Christ. Five, we are, we will be revealed with Christ. Okay, so if I was to give a sermon, it'd be a five-point sermon, right, on this.

So that's kind of the outline of how we're going to follow, and the reason why I didn't, all I did was give you the verses, because I want you to put the notes directly into the verses. Instead of, instead of putting the notes on the side, I want you to see where it's coming from.

Make circles and then draw lines and then say, this is where the insights are coming from, okay? So that when you're studying the Bible, you would do the same thing, okay? All right, so, like I said, the outline is our relation to Christ and how does that affect what we do.

So one is, if you have been raised with Christ, well, even before we get there, he says, therefore, therefore is obviously connecting us to the previous verse. And what was the main theme of the previous passage in chapter two? What was he speaking against? Legalism, right? They were all holding on to the Judaistic ways and he says that all of these things have no value in what?

Taming the flesh, right? So basically he says, don't do this. That's how he ended chapter two. And then he says, but do this. So considering that none of these things that you're doing, don't touch, don't eat, don't do this, they have no value in absolute, in changing who you are, right?

Therefore, do this. And then so basically what he's saying, if you connect what he is saying, these things don't have any power over you. So therefore, what? Right? The only power that you're going to have is when you're connected to Christ. You being self-disciplined and saying, I'm not going to do this, I'm not going to go here, in and of itself, you just, you could be as disciplined as possible, but there's no interchange going on.

You just happen to be a disciplined person. You just happen to be a smart person. You just happen to like to study the Bible. In and of itself, there's no transformation going on. True transformation happens when we are connected to Christ, right? And that's what he's basically saying in chapter three.

And he leads us, and that's basically the outline. One of the questions that came in is why does he say he was raised with Christ, right? Instead of died with Christ. Because the previous chapter, right, mentions it over and over again that we were crucified with Christ. So you have to see it in the context of the whole letter.

So one of the things that I caution you, even though we're only studying section at a time, always, always reread what you read before. Okay? Because you have to understand it in context. If you don't understand the context, you're going to draw out things that he's not talking about.

Right? So over and over again, what is the most important thing in interpretation? Context, context, context. So even though we're only starting four verses, you have to read how did he get to chapter three, right? Because therefore connects us to everything that he's been saying up to this point.

So he says, if you have been raised with Christ, right? Another question came in is why did he say if, not since? Part of the reason why he says if is because he's challenging this church that keeps drifting. Right? Because the early church kept on having problems and the whole book of Hebrews about that.

People are drifting back to what they know. Self-righteousness. Right? So basically he's challenging them. If you've been raised with Christ, if you're truly united with Christ, there's no power in that. Right? You need to change your mindset and seek the things that are above. So he says, if you've been raised with Christ, right?

And the imperative here is keep seeking the things that are above. Right? If you've been united with Christ. Now, what does it mean to be raised with Christ? Right? We talked about that in baptism. When you're baptized, you're united with Christ in his death. And it's clear what it means to be united with his death.

Our old self is dead. Whatever ambition that you had, if you had a plan of life and you met Christ, all of that is to be crucified with Christ. And any part of that that we do not crucify is going to continue to cause problems in your life. Right?

Any part of your life that you resist the surrender to God will over and over and over again in your life is going to be a source of headache and problem. Right? Because God is not going to ever, if you are his child, God is not going to ever say, you know what?

That part of your life, since you're so stubborn, I'm just going to let it go. Right? I'm just going to let it go. So that part you can have independence and you can do whatever you want, but just give me this. He's king. The whole reason why the world is under sin and judgment is because of this rebellion.

So there's no point in our Christian life in human history where God's going to just tolerate that because remember God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So if he didn't tolerate the old Testament, he's not going to tolerate the new Testament. So part of what it means before we get, we understand being raised with Christ, that we are crucified with him.

Right? Then what does it mean to be raised with Christ? Right? And how does that relate to, how does that relate to what he said in chapter two? Chapter two says, not doing this and not touching this and not eating this. They in and of itself has no power to change you.

Right? Therefore, if you've been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above. So what does he mean to be raised with Christ? Since there's no power in this, therefore if you've been raised with Christ, seek the things above. Right? If you take the raised with Christ out, right?

You understand what I'm saying? If you take the raised with Christ part out and he says, seek the things that are above. Couldn't that easily be another religious thing that they're doing? You understand what I'm saying? Because they're saying, I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to eat this.

And they want to be righteous and they want to, they want to, you know, be righteous by doing things and not doing things. So when he says seek the things above, wouldn't that automatically cause us to say, okay, what should we do? What should we not do? Right? So the key to this passage is with Christ.

Since therefore that in and of itself has no power, if you've been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above. So the big difference is with Christ. Right? Raised with Christ. So being raised with Christ isn't simply saying like, oh, I was resurrected and you know, now I'm going to try to try my best to live a life that's worthy of God.

Something happens when we are crucified and raised with Christ that you could not do by your own strength. Right? He says that in Ephesians chapter 1, 19 to 20, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe these are in accordance with the workings of the strength of his might, which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.

So he said there was tremendous power that lifted Christ up, but when he was lifted and we are lifted with him, what is he saying? That same power is in us. Right? So he's not just talking about just having your mind and heart, just like thinking about Jesus. Right?

What we did not have the ability to do before we were united to Christ, he's saying now you have that power. That same power that resurrected Christ is the same power that you and I have access to. Does that make sense? Because without that union with Christ and his death and resurrection, it just becomes another form of legalism.

Right? And isn't that exactly how it feels? If you're trying really hard to do quiet time and not to do bad things and not to sin and you don't have affection for Christ and you don't feel this union with Christ, doesn't it just feel like you're doing more stuff?

Right? What's the difference? What's the difference between the Pharisees trying to keep the Sabbath holy versus Christians trying to do quiet time? What's the difference? The key is with Christ. Right? Resurrected with Christ. Right? So the moment we drift away from Christ, you have no power. The only power that you and I have is the same power that the Pharisees had.

To be disciplined. Right? To say the right things, to do the right things. But there's no interchange going on. So he says, "Seek." Right? If you've been raised with Christ, with the power he's given you, seek the things that are above. Right? And that's in Matthew 7, 7, "Ask and it will be given to you.

Seek and you will find and knock and it will be opened to you." So if you've been resurrected with Christ and you have this union with Christ and you just sit there and do nothing, what happens? If you have this resurrected power that justified your sins and now you're united with Christ in his death and resurrection and you sit there and do nothing, what happens?

Nothing. Nothing happens. Right? Just because your car is filled with gas, if you don't go there and drive that car, it's useless. Right? So God has given us in our union with Christ in his death and resurrection, he has given us the power that we didn't have before. So he said, "If you have that, if you've been resurrected with Christ, seek the things that are above." Right?

Jeremiah 29, 13. "Seek, seek me and you will find me if you seek me with," what? "All your heart." Right? He has given, given us, right, the resources. And what is the primary resource that we have that they didn't have, that the Jews didn't have, that we have now?

Yes. Okay. The Holy Spirit. There is no Christian who does not have the Holy Spirit. Right? There's not a single Christian, if you are a genuine Christian, if you've been raised with Christ, who does not have the Holy Spirit. And that's why he says, "If you've been raised with Christ, if you're united with him in his death and resurrection, with that, seek." Right?

"Seek the things that are above." John 6, 26, 27. "Jesus answered them and said, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled." In other words, they're not seeking Christ. They're thinking the gift that Christ was going to give.

They weren't seeking him. He corrects them, "Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him, the Father, God has set his seal." Right? God has given them, right, maybe not them, but God has given us the Holy Spirit, and we're using the Holy Spirit for what purpose?

Right? If we use the Holy Spirit to seek earthly things, what's going to happen? We're going to be frustrated. Right? So, look at the content of our prayer. How much of the content of your prayer is for a better job? How much of the content of your prayer is for health?

How much of the content of your prayer is for certain things to work out? Right? Now, does it mean that God doesn't want us to pray for none of that? But how much of our pursuit is really earthly things in Jesus' name? How much of our pleading and seeking and praying is about things that have eternal value for lost souls, for his glory, right, building up of the church?

Right? So, he says, "If the Holy Spirit's been given to us, the purpose of the Holy Spirit is for us to have the power to seek eternal things, to bring us to God." Right? Which I mentioned before, when the Holy Spirit is groaning, what do you think it's groaning for?

It's not groaning for us to have, you know, the best investments and have nice retirement and get a better job or, you know, have better health. And again, none of these things are things that God says you shouldn't pray. You should pray, right? But how much of it is that and how much of it is really seeking the things that are above?

So, if you've been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above. Number two, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Right? Set your mind to the things that are above because that's where Christ is. We don't think about heaven because if you go to heaven, you're going to get the things that you didn't get here.

Right? You can get a mansion here, so we're going to get a mansion there. Right? If you're short, you get to be tall. Right? Whatever it is that your desire is, it's not go to heaven and all your, you know, fleshly desires will be fulfilled. And that's what the world thinks heaven is.

Right? He says to seek the things that are above because why? Because that's where Christ is. So, if you're not united with Christ, a non-Christian cannot desire heaven. The heaven he desires is a heaven that he created in his own mind. It is not a heaven that we know of scripture.

Right? A non-Christian would never desire heaven. Not the heaven of the Bible because the primary reason heaven is heaven is because this is where Christ is. Right? So, if you've been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand. Set your mind on the things that are above.

So, when he says set your mind on the things that are above, typically we think of mind as what? Our intellect. Right? That's not how the Bible uses it. In that culture, again, this is why the context is so important. This is why when you get one of these, right?

For the low cost of $15.95. Right? If you get one of these and you look up that word mind, it will give you, like, your intellect is part of it. But the mind is used in the Bible to refer to the mind, affection, and the will. Right? I mentioned many times in sermons and Bible study, when the Bible talks about heart, we usually primarily use it to describe what?

Emotion. Remember? Those of you guys who pay attention during sermons. Right? When the Bible talks about heart, what is that in reference to? It's not just emotions. Huh? Volition. Yeah, part of it. Okay, that's part of it. Basically, when the Bible talks about heart, it's in reference to your whole being.

All of you. It's equivalent to for us to saying, like, put your soul into it. Right? The essence of who you are. So it's not just limited to heart. So volition, it's obviously is included in that. So in the Bible, it's kind of reversed. Because when he says mind, it encompasses the idea of affection.

And not just intellect. Right? So when you understand that, think about Romans chapter 12 too. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by what? Reading of your mind. So if you understand the word mind, in our context, you only think that God is trying to get you to think differently.

Right? Not to conform to this world, but to change your thinking. That is not how the word mind is understood. The word mind there is not just talking about thinking, but your affection and your will. All of that is included in Romans chapter 12. So you can have good thinking and poor affection and still be like the world.

Right? So when God is calling us to be transformed, he's not only calling us to be transformed in the way that we think. He's causing us to transform in the things that we have affection for. Right? So that's why he says, if you've been raised to Christ, seek the things that are above.

Because this is where Christ is, at the right hand of God. Set your mind, your affection, your will, on the things that are above and not on the things that are on earth. Okay? To your whole being. He's not just thinking about like, hey, just memorize scripture. Why do you memorize scripture?

If memorization of scripture is just keeping it in your head, what will you do with that? Right? You'll probably catch me when I quote it wrong. Right? When somebody else misquotes it, it's like, that's not the right way to say that. Right? The purpose of Bible memorization is for the purpose of what?

Meditating. Right? Allow the word of God in your mind to meditate on it. Right? So that you would not turn from it to the left or to the right. That's the purpose of Bible memorization. It's not just so that your mind would be fresh. Right? So thirdly, for you have died and your life is now hidden with Christ.

You notice here that he doesn't say hidden in Christ. What is the difference between being hidden in Christ and hidden with Christ? Because it's sometimes when you see prepositions or, or, you know, certain, certain words, it's not necessarily in the Greek, but this is deliberate. He says it is, we are not hidden in Christ, but hidden with Christ.

So what do you think the difference with the, the meaning between the two? Okay. Active participation. When you say hidden in Christ, with Christ. Okay. Okay. Active and inactive participation. What do you think when you say we are hidden in Christ? Is Christ hidden? When you say you're hidden in Christ, is Christ hidden?

Christ is not hidden. Right? Christ is being exalted and you are in Christ. Right? So Christ is being exalted, you stand behind Christ. Right? But that's not what he says. He says you are hidden with Christ. So when he says you are hidden with Christ, is Christ hidden too?

Christ is hidden too. You see the difference between in and with? Right? So what does he mean that you are hidden with Christ? What does that mean? Huh? Something died? I didn't hear the rest. Huh? We died with him. Okay. Who is Christ hidden to? Not to us. Right?

Those who are perishing. Right? The Bible says the God of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so that they do not see the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is foolishness to them. Right? So why would he say that? Don't seek the things that are above.

Seek where Christ is. Where is Christ? He doesn't, again, of course Christ is omnipresent, the Lord is with you to the end of the age, but here he says seek the things that are above because that's where he is. So as he is hidden, as he is not here, you along with him, right, are hidden with Christ.

I think the importance of that, of the hidden with and in is, he's talking about a earthly ambition. Earthly ambition to seek the things that are earthly. Right? But Christ, even Christ is hidden. Meaning, Jesus says they're not going to know you because they didn't know me. Right? They're not going to honor you because they didn't honor me.

And so if you seek honor and glory, right, while you are united with Christ, you're going the opposite direction. You're not with Christ. If you are with Christ, you're not going to be glorified by people who don't glorify Christ. If people say, "I hate Jesus, but I love you." Right?

I think Jesus is a monster, but you're a good person. Right? There's something that went wrong with your life. Right? Either you're not truly united with Christ, but you live in a compromised life. So basically he's saying, if you seek the things that are on earth and not to seek where God is, Christ, he himself is hidden in this world.

He is not honored. Right? So your life, our life is hidden with Christ as Christ is hidden to those who are perishing. So if you try to be glorified and become somebody in this world outside of Christ, right, you're going the opposite direction. How can you be glorified beyond your master?

How can you be loved by people who hate our master? Right? If I'm married to Esther and somebody just cannot stand her, it's probably the other way. Right? If I'm married with her and somebody cannot stand me and they can't stand to be in my presence, they're not going to be able to be with her either.

Right? So if we're truly united with Christ, and that's why he says, "If you died with him, you have been hidden with Christ." Right? In other words, we are crucified with Christ. We're hidden with Christ. Number four, so when Christ, who is your life, not life in this world, but life that is found in Christ, when he appears, what's going to happen?

You will also appear with him in glory. In other words, the glory that you seek in this world, you will only see that when he is glorified, because we're united with him. When he is loved, you will be loved. When he is honored, you will be honored. Does that make sense?

That's how closely united we are with Christ. We are united with him in his death, united with his resurrected life, we have become one. Right? In essence, the Holy Spirit is in us. The same reason why they hate Jesus will be the same reason why they would hate us.

So trying to be a cool Christian, right, cool in the eyes of the world, but to be holy in the eyes of God is an oxymoron. Right? Whatever they hate about Jesus, they will hate about us. What do they love about Jesus, they will love us for. You understand what he is saying?

So this seeking of this world, right, desiring glory in this world, to be somebody in this world, goes contrary to be united with Christ. Right? He said when Christ, who is your life, is revealed. If you have truly been resurrected with Christ, your life is now in Christ. He is your life.

Right? Not whatever it is that we get attracted to, whatever it is that we fantasize about having one day or doing one day. Right? He said that's not where life is. And if you are a Christian, either you embrace that and you have wisdom and you live toward that, or if you resist that, right, if you're a child of God, you're going to find at the end of that just frustration, heartache, because God is going to discipline you.

If you're a child of God, God will discipline you because he's trying to give you himself, and you're running the opposite direction. Right? If you're not a child of God, running toward Christ would only frustrate you, because that's not where your life is. Right? So why do we come?

There's only two reasons why people would come to church and sit through what seemingly will seem like a boring Bible study. I remember somebody I met a couple years ago, and they found out that we were going through Isaiah, and he listened to some of the lectures in Isaiah, and I remember I sat down with him, and the first thing he asked me is like, "Do people come to this?" That's what he said.

Like, "They actually come to this?" And I said, "Come, come, take a look." Right? He said, "Yeah, I mean, a lot of people are not going to be interested in that. They're going to come, and then just because the length of the sermon, or it's a little bit difficult, you know, say, 'Oh, these people take the Bible too seriously,' and that's enough to drive people away." But if you've tasted Christ in the Scripture, you can't do anything else.

Right? If your eyes have been opened, nothing compares. So either you're willing to go through this boring lecture, right, because you just love your friends. Right? Football is your life, and this is the only place you can play football. Right? Just community, just a place where you belong. That's a huge pool.

Right? That's where your friend is. That's where your community is. And a lot of people jump through the hoops and do things that they don't believe just to have a community that they belong to. Either you're coming to the church for that reason, which a lot of people do, or you're coming to Christ because you've tasted the goodness of God and nothing can replace it.

Right? It's one or the other. And so he's saying, "When Christ, who is your life, if Christ is your life, don't try to seek life here, because life is not here." Right? That's the whole reason why our sins were justified. That's the whole reason why we want to study the Bible.

Right? There's nothing I am saying that's so riveting because it's coming out of my mouth. It's because you've tasted, you've tasted the goodness of God and you want more. Right? Finally, he says, "Then when he appears, you also will be revealed with him in glory." Right? So for now, right, he's not saying like just suppress everything.

He says, "No." You're pursuing life. Like the world is pursuing life in places where life is not found. But if you found life in Christ, right, right now we're hidden to the rest of this world. So don't try to be glorified. Don't try to get attention. Don't try to be honored.

Don't try because this is not our home. When Christ comes and he is glorified, right, and he is exalted, he is worshipped, he said, "We will be glorified with him." Right? Everything that this world tempts us with, everything that we think like, "Oh man, I would just rather have it now." Right?

All of that stuff. He says, "Don't seek the earthly things. Seek things that are above when he comes." Philippians 3, 20 to 21. "For our citizenship is in heaven from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to himself." Right?

We will be transformed. Whatever you don't like about your body, it's going to be transformed. Right? Second Thessalonians 1, 10 through 12. "When he comes to be glorified in his saints on that day and to be marveled at among all who have believed, for our testimony to you was believed." Right?

So I'm talking to those of you who are here who know what I'm talking about. Even if you've drifted, right? Even if your heart feels like it's become callous for a while, if you've tasted the goodness of God, even if it was a while back, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Right? You know exactly what I'm talking about. One day he's going to come. And what you've tasted was just a little. Right? He tasted just enough so that you would keep coming to him. Right? You've seen just enough to know that that's what you want. Right? That's the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian.

A non-Christian will jump through the hoops to belong in a church. But a genuine Christian who's tasted the goodness of God will never be satisfied unless he is seeking the Lord. Right? That's why we're here. And that's why Paul is saying this external thing of like, "I'm going to be disciplined.

I'm going to do this," in and of itself doesn't have any power to transform us until we are united with Christ. United with Christ in his resurrection. Right? We understand that we are hidden with Christ. We understand that he is our life. And then we are longing for him to come so that we may find his true life in him.

Until there is this union with Christ, all other things is just legalism. Right? Okay. So the questions are in the bottom. I forgot where the questions are. Okay. Well, I don't have it. Can you just put up the questions? Okay. Let me pray first and then I'll let you guys go get into your groups.

Heavenly Father, I pray for your blessing upon our small group. And I know that even in this room we have varying degrees of maturity. Some people who have been here for a long time, people who have been a Christian for decades, and some who are just entering in, just trying to figure out what it means to be a follower of Christ.

I pray, Father God, that the small group times will be a blessing. And whether they feel a bit lost in the studies or excited and this is nothing new to them and they're continuing to dig and to find, I pray, Father God, that you would help us to continue to taste the goodness of Christ.

That our longing, our affection, our desire, our mind, our strength, our will, all of it, Lord God, would long for Christ and Christ alone. So I pray that your Holy Spirit would lead and guide the discussions. And I pray for those who are hurting, Lord God, that they would find comfort.

I pray for those who are struggling, Lord, that they would find their way. I pray that those who are strong, that you'd open their eyes to those who are around them who are in need of them. Unite us together, Lord God, and help us to build a church that honors and glorifies Christ.

We long to see you one day. Help us to live toward that end. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.