Higher Things: Set Your Affection on What Is Above

Welcome to the Southwest Apostolic Church podcast.

This podcast is brought to you by the Southwest Apostolic Church,

located at 3161 South Rowena Street in Indianapolis, Indiana, 46241.

The podcast will feature preaching

from our pastor and from other ministers, so we hope you enjoy it.

Without further ado, let's get right into it. God bless.

Aren't you glad about that tonight? Amen. If you have a Bible tonight,

turn to the book of Colossians, third chapter.

Remember the upcoming dates we mentioned?

And pray for the church and pray for the mission work and all those that are,

endeavoring to do something for the Lord.

We want people to grow in grace and in knowledge.

Amen. It's all about the growth. You know that? You have kids,

you want them to grow up, don't you?

You do, but you don't, you know, but you do want them to grow because if they're

growing, there's something wrong. But you do want them to grow.

But so we want our church to grow. You can grow, not you don't have a church

can grow, even if it's not just numerically.

We can grow. If you have 20 people, those 20 people can still grow and you still have 20.

So there's different ways of different levels of growth. But we want growth

and we want God to have his way.

Colossians 3 tonight, 1 through 4.

I think I got that up there, yeah. If you then be risen with Christ...

Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

Set your affection on things above, not on things on earth.

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with God in Christ.

When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Amen.

Aren't you glad that the word of God is positive? Praise the Lord.

I'd like to talk about higher things tonight.

Higher things. Let's pray. Jesus, we love you. Ask you to be with us.

Strengthen us. Help us with your word tonight. Let it accomplish what you want it to.

We give you thanks for it in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You may be seated.

Higher things, things that are above. The Amplified, that's what the Amplified says.

If you've been raised with Christ to a new life, thus sharing his resurrection from the dead,

aim at, listen to this, aim at and seek the rich eternal treasures that are above.

Above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Set your minds and keep them set on what is above the higher things.

Not on the things that are on the earth.

For as far as this world is concerned, you have died and your new real life

is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in

the splendor of his glory.

That sounds like something to think about. Amen.

That sounds like something that's better than what's going on in the world.

Amen. There's a lot going on in our world. There's a lot going on in this world,

but I want to set my sights on something a little bit higher, don't you?

Amen. I hope your sights are set on something just a little bit higher. Amen.

Amen. I hope your eyes are set on something a little bit higher.

I hope you're not just thinking, you know, most of us are not too worried about

starting our career where most

of us are, you know, on down the road a little ways. But you know what?

Sometimes people get upset or obsessed. I mean.

The career, you know, and they start with, they, they worry about their bank

accounts and they worry about their, they worry about their,

their cars and the houses and this and that, and they worry about a lot of things.

But, you know, I want to set my sights a little bit higher than that.

Amen. I want to think on something that's above. Praise the Lord.

You know, the Bible says Jesus told a story about a rich man.

He looked around and he was blessed.

And the Bible says he had barns and he had, and he built bigger barns.

He said, I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that.

And all he could think about was his barns and building bigger barns.

And all he could think about was his farm.

And all he could think about was how much he was making and how much his barns

were full. But Jesus said, thou fool.

That's what he said. This day is your soul required of you.

You know, we need to set our sights a little higher than what's just in this

world and think about our eternity and think about where we're going to end

up and think about something that just goes beyond the politics and the drabness

and all the things of this world.

We need to set our sights on things above and set our affections on things above.

I don't know about you, but I'm really drawn to what's above. Praise the Lord.

I want to be drawn to things that are above. love, your affections,

your desires, your thinking needs to be on more than just the humdrum of,

I know we got to live in this world, and I know we got to go through this life, but you know,

our affection, where's your affection at? That's what, you know,

you know what affection is.

You know what you love, you know?

You show affection to your wife. You show affection to your children.

You love them. You hug them.

Tell you, I'll see you later. Give them a hug. You give them affection.

You know, the world, the affections are set on the things of this world.

It's like I said today. They have football games all over the country today

where they'll be packed out.

I listen to the Cincinnati station. Football games everywhere today will be packed out.

But I listen to the Cincinnati station, talk radio usually. and they got a big high school rivalry.

Now, this is high school football between two schools, Moeller High School and St.

X. I think they're both private schools in Cincinnati.

And Cincinnati is a big Catholic town.

And they're going to have a football game. It was either Friday night or Saturday night.

And it was a big deal because everybody was all wrapped up in the fact that

the Cincinnati Bengals let them use their professional stadium to play that high school game.

And they had sold 30,000 tickets for a high school football game.

And the whole town was excited about, you know, you listen to them and the commentators

all talk about, oh, this is a big deal.

And I'm sure the kids are excited. I'm sure, you know, that's a big deal to a kid.

A kid don't know anything, but it points me to the fact that our world has set their affection.

The Bible says men shall become lovers of pleasures more than the lovers of God.

But I want to be a God lover, don't you?

I want to be a God lover. I want my affections to be on him and think about

him because those are the things that are going to last.

Now, in this portion of scripture, I read this and wrote this down.

I don't know how long ago I wrote this down.

A man named John Piper from Bethlehem College wrote this down,

and I read it and wrote it down, and it says there's five realities that are

introduced in these scriptures.

Five realities, things that are real, and they're introduced into this little

portion of scripture here.

So the first thing, if you be risen with Christ, seek those things that are

above where Christ set us on the right hand of God. God is introduced.

You know, people need to think about God every now and then.

Our world doesn't think about God.

They don't think about spiritual things. Oh, they talk spiritual,

and they get all weird and sidetracked, you know.

You got all kind of pagan stuff, and you got all kind of, you know,

people say they're spiritual, but they're not thinking about God.

They're not thinking about the reality of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

You know, when I was a kid, people thought about that.

Does anybody here remember when the men were orbiting the earth and going to the moon, I think?

They might not have been going to the moon, but it was on Christmas Day,

right around Christmas or Christmas Eve.

And it was a big deal because they had the astronauts read the scriptures from the space.

They were going around the earth and they read the book of Genesis while they

were going around the earth.

You know, that's how the society thought about God.

And they thought about it and it was a big deal because

it was on the on the radio that the astronauts read

in the beginning god created the heavens

and the earth you know god's introduced we just can't

you know we don't know where he come from or where he's going or whatever they

say but i want to tell you god is real and god is in the picture whether people

want him to be in the picture or not amen in the beginning god god is in the

beginning he's at the end and everything in between.

And we need to put our affections and think about something spiritual and think

about the things of God every once in a while and think about if it please God, is God happy with it.

I want to think about something that's above. And let me tell you,

God is above everything, amen.

You can't talk about thinking about things above and not talk about God because he's above all.

He sits high and he looks low and there's not a thing he don't know altogether.

So God is introduced here. And then we read, you know, Christ.

If ye be risen with Christ, set your affection on things above,

where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.

So we're introduced here to God. We're introduced to reality.

We're introduced to deity, something called God, something that's supernatural,

something that's there.

And, You know, still a lot of people don't believe in God.

But you know what the Bible says? A fool has said in his heart, there is no God.

There is a God. I said there is a God and there's only one God.

And I only can't, you can't...

I know there's demigods and semi-gods and all that stuff, but if you're really

God, if you are really the supreme and you're really the almighty and the all-powerful,

then there can only be one of you because you can't have two all-powerful nothing.

Praise the Lord. That's why there's only one God, and his name is Jesus Christ.

Now, you see, we're introduced here to the idea of a God, and then we're introduced

to Christ. We read about Christ being seated at his right hand.

Now, that doesn't mean if you look up there, you're going to see God the Father

and little Jesus sitting on his right side.

That's not what he's talking about. We're introduced to the fact that there

is a God and Christ is the right hand, is the hand of power.

Now, see, we're thinking this is something being introduced here.

We're thinking about deity. We're thinking about spirituality.

We're thinking about things that are above.

You know, let me just say this. What goes on in the church is not just some mundane carnal thing.

This is what goes on is something that comes from God.

The church services, the worship of God, the preaching of the word,

it's all something that is from above.

God's plan. It's not man's plan. It's God's plan.

It's something that's introduced by God and something brought into the world

by God. And our salvation is of God.

It's by his grace that we're saved.

Not we of ourselves, but it's by his grace and through faith we're saved.

This is from God, folks. What goes on here is of God.

It's not just something to think that is, bless my little grandson's heart.

It was Lily's birthday, and we were all sitting at the restaurant last night.

My little son, the Lord uses him to deal with my son, Daniel,

because we're sitting there at the restaurant, and my little grandson,

Ethan, says, I want to, he sees grandma and grandpa, and he looks at his dad,

and he said, I want to go to church.

He said, I want to go to church. I said, and I told Daniel, I said,

tell him to get you to church, Ethan, and little Noah, bless his heart,

He's the genius of the family, I think.

And he said, I do not want to go to church. It is so boring.

I do. And that's how he talks. Matter of fact, I do not want to go. It is so boring.

You know, he don't know what he's talking about. He doesn't have any idea what's going on.

You know, to him, it is boring. He just sitting there listening to somebody

and he's ready to be doing Rubik's Cube.

I mean, the kid can do a Rubik's Cube in how long, Ruthie? A minute?

Yeah, I mean, they were having a contest. Daniel said he was on in the Navy

and they were all out at sea. And the big deal was they all got her.

They wasn't doing nothing in the Navy. day except floating on

the water at the particular when they had their time off they'd all sit

around who could do the rubik's cube fastest well i still

can't do the rubik's cube i never have been able to

do a rubik's cube well i don't know the pattern though yeah you got to know

the pattern well my grandson is like seven or whatever he is and he's got the

pattern and i sat there and watched him at daniel's house the night daniel said

okay go you know it was like a minute under a minute or a minute, you know, fast.

And my son Daniel did it, and Noah was faster than him.

But, you know, kids, they don't know, you know. They don't know.

They just think about doing it. He's sitting there, teacher trying to teach

about down on the line. Then the kid's thinking about the Rubik's Cube, you know.

Kids don't know. To them, things are boring, but they need to be taught that,

hey, when you come to Sunday school, that's from above.

When you go to a class and the teacher's trying to teach you something, that's from above.

When the preacher opens the Bible and trying to reach out and preach the Word

of God, that's not just something man-made up. That comes from above.

Praise the Lord. When the saints get together and begin to sing praises to God,

that's not just a man-made club. That is something from above.

That is God's plan. Hallelujah. That's what God designed.

That's not just something man-made up. That is from above. Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord. We need to realize what we're dealing with.

Sometimes we do it so much it becomes common.

Come to church so much, sometimes we think it's common, and it's just everyday

humdrum, but I'm here to tell you what's going on right now is of God.

I said what's going on right now is ordained from on high. Hallelujah.

It comes from the Almighty God.

Well, it's not just something I'm trying to do, not just something Sister Matthews

and Brother Matthews thought they wanted to do.

They didn't put a church down here just so they could say they did it.

They did it because they realized that, well.

What they're thinking about, you know, you come to service and this is of God, folks.

I said, this is of God.

What's going on here is important. I said, what's going on here is important.

Amen. What the preacher's doing is important. What the singers are doing is important.

Above what's going on in the world what's going

on is not just another social club and we're

here we're social creatures i understand that and i'm not against being social

we're going to be social if we end up at golden corral i'm going to socialize

and get my amount of chicken i won't tell you well i might get some steak too

terry don't don't cut me slack cut me some slack here i didn't say that's all

I was going to get was chicken. Hallelujah.

And I enjoy a piece of chicken or two or three, a piece of steak or four. Yeah.

I have been known back in the day, you could get 10 piece dark from churches for $3.99.

And I have been known about a quarter to 11. You got to hit the chicken place

when it's right open, when it's fresh.

Stop in there and get, I need, I'm on to order a 10-piece special and five peppers.

Got to have the peppers. Come on, somebody. The peppers bring the anointing. Hallelujah.

So I'd start out about quarter to 11, hit the road.

I'd be going over, say I'd be going to spend my day out past Shelbyville,

out there in the boonies running around Napoleon, Indiana. Anybody know where Napoleon is?

You got Napoleon, Indiana. You got these little towns. You got Laurel,

Indiana, and you got all these little towns I used to go to.

They had like rock quarries there and stuff, and I'd go see these people.

So I'd eat me a piece of chicken on the way and a pepper and a piece of chicken, you know, the pepper.

And I was delivering a welder one day. I think I told you this.

And I backed into the place. It was in Morristown, Indiana, another big town.

And I backed into this place. They built cranes and they had all this welder stuff.

And I backed into the door, opened my back door of the van and had the welder there.

And the guy come out to unload it. He said, smells like chicken in there. Bye.

Hey, I like my chicken, and I like living, and I'm here, and I like eating,

and I like enjoying that.

But I want to tell you, we got to set our sights and understand there are things that are above.

There are higher things than church's chicken.

Believe it or not, hallelujah. And it's not Popeye's either.

You know, you can rank, I don't know who's higher, KFC, Popeye's,

or church's. You know, it depends on what day and when you go.

But I'm talking about something that's higher than Popeye's.

I'm talking about a few years ago, Popeyes had a chicken sandwich,

and Kentucky Fried Chicken had a chicken sandwich, and they were making little

videos about what was the best.

And a guy would take a bite of the Kentucky Fried Chicken, and he'd talk about how good it was.

Then he'd take a bite of the Popeyes. Oh, don't forget Chick-fil-A.

It's in there somewhere.

I don't get Chick-fil-A. I'm sorry. Chick-fil-A might be okay,

but it ain't wrap around the building good, is it?

I ain't figured that out, man. And every time you drive by one,

they got a line going around the building. And I'm thinking,

surely it's not that good.

So I don't know if you like Chick-fil-A's higher than KFC or you rank KFC higher

than churches. But what we're preaching about tonight is something that's higher

than everything that we're talking about. Praise the Lord.

It's higher than that. It's better than that. Praise the Lord.

It's higher in every sense. You get more out of it. Praise the Lord.

I said you get more out of it.

The nourishment from a move of the

Holy Ghost is a lot better than the nourishment from a jalapeno pepper.

Believe it or not. Hallelujah. Get your attention talking about food.

Everybody be hitting the looking church is still open.

So when he tells us to set our affections on higher things, things that are

above, we're introduced to the idea of God.

And then we're introduced to the idea of Christ, who is the instrument of power.

Christ, the man, Christ that lived and died, buried for three days, resurrected.

That is the instrument that the deity that God we're talking about is using

in the lives of men, praise the Lord.

God, deity is revealed through Jesus Christ. You see me? You see the Father. Hallelujah.

You want God? You find him in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is the instrument of power for this God we're talking about.

That's how he's working in humanity. Now, God can do and be whatever he chooses to be.

But as far as humans are concerned, the instrument of power in the lives of

humanity and in human civilization is Jesus Christ.

Preaching Christ is not just some little message. Singing about Christ is not

just some little message.

Amen. When you preach Christ, you are preaching the power of God.

You are preaching the fact that God, the instrument of God is Jesus Christ.

And when you preach Christ and him crucified, you are unleashing the power of

the almighty God into the life of a human being. This is getting deep, man.

This is getting deep here. This is going good here.

When you preach Christ, you see, The Bible tells us this. Paul said,

I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is, he said, it is the power of God to whosoever will believe it.

That's why people don't realize they hear about Christ. You preach Christ and

you preach him like he should be.

And like I told him at the mission today, anybody that preaches Christ,

when he's preached in his fullness, you're going to preach that people need to be baptized.

Praise the Lord. And you're going to preach that they need the Holy Ghost.

And you're going to, and let me tell you, that's not a man-made message.

That, it comes from on high. Praise the Lord.

I said, that comes from on high.

Hallelujah. I hope you're paying attention. If you're not, you ought to be.

Not because I'm preaching, because what I'm saying is truth.

What I'm saying is from on high.

Thing. The nutritional value of it, the value of it is so high.

How valuable is it? How much blood is in a human body?

Anybody know? How much? So many quarts, right? Pints, I don't know.

But Jesus Christ. And value is derived from the availability.

Gold is valuable because there's only so much of it.

And there are things you can do with it. And there's only so much of it.

Platinum is even more rare than gold. How much? 10 pints of blood.

Platinum is more valuable than gold because there's not much of it.

Now we're getting into the, they need these rare earth minerals,

they're calling them. And they're valuable.

They're using them to make batteries and all this stuff. And we've got wars.

Why do you think Russia and Ukraine? Ukraine is a hotbed of rare minerals.

Okay. They fought the Korean War because there's something called tungsten.

And tungsten is hard and you can get it 3000 degrees before it'll melt.

They use it in welding and so forth.

And tungsten. And you know where the most greatest concentration of tungsten

is? Right over there in the Korean Peninsula.

And men fight over rare earth

minerals and because they're valuable you know

what we ought to realize what we got's more valuable than tungsten and gold

and platinum hallelujah and we're talking we were bought now here's where i

was going we were i feel like preaching just a little while hey man we were

bought with something that's more valuable because there's only how many pints.

10 pints of the blood of Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord.

One man gave his life for the sins of the whole world, and his blood is so powerful

that it forgives the sins of every man, woman, boy, and girl.

He shed his blood for the sins.

The foundation of the world. The lamb was slain, get this, before the foundation of the world.

In the beginning was the word.

In the beginning was the plan, the mind of God, the logos.

In the beginning. This is getting deep now, I'm telling you.

This is good stuff now. I'm talking about something that's above, see?

I'm not talking about Oprah's book club.

Talking about what's the newest book. I'm not talking about what's the newest rage.

I'm not talking about what's number one on the New York Times bestseller.

I'm talking about something from above.

I'm talking about something that's higher. Hallelujah.

I'm here to tell you, 10 pints of blood paid for the sins of the whole world.

That's how valuable it is. That's how, let me tell you, one of these days,

people don't think it's very valuable.

They might not think it's worth getting up going to church.

They might not think it's worth submitting to water baptism,

but one of these days they will.

One of these days they're going to realize how valuable it was.

And let me say, all you faithful saints, one of these days you're going to walk

the streets of gold and you're going to say, it was worth every long mile,

every heartache, and every trial.

It was worth thinking about something from above.

It was worth, you know, Brother Matthews used to say, I'm not laying up treasures here.

You know, you're talking about the man that they had an opportunity.

Brother Coffee said he'd build him a house up in Noblesville.

He said, Floyd, won't you let me build you a house? Floyd works for Jim Coffee.

And he said, Floyd, I'll build you a house up here. Let's build you a house up here in Noblesville.

Brother Matthew's affection wasn't on things in this world. You know what he said? This is so funny.

He said, why would I want to go up to Noblesville and be a pauper when I could

be the king of Mars Hill. Hallelujah.

That's how he fell. And he stayed right over there on Fultz Street.

You know why? His affection wasn't on Noblesville.

His affection wasn't on a new house. Amen. His affection was on something from above. Hallelujah.

Woo. Something on high. His affection is mine. His life was dedicated to higher things.

Anybody picking up what I'm putting down tonight? Praise God.

To get our mind and our heart and our affection on things

that are higher world's so

wrapped up in jack daniels and ohio i

told you i listened to the cincinnati station and

right now over in ohio they're debating about marijuana and

they got their marijuana is legal over there and they're all fighting about

whether they're gonna have cbd and their you know thc and their drinks now now

they're not you don't just drink beer or whiskey now you can get cbd or thc

infused drinks You can cop a little buzz on drinking some water that's got THC in it.

And they're arguing about it. And I listen to them talk about it.

And they're talking about, well, we're passing this law and we're doing that.

And people's lives are all, people are upset because they're trying to regulate it.

And people's minds are all caught up in the things.

And I want to tell you, men's minds in our world, sometimes they are in the gutter.

They're in the gutter. Sexual things, perverse things, ugly things,

dirty things. and their minds stay there and they try to push it on your kids.

That's why they got all these games and all this stuff and it's all gutter.

It's all bottom feeding, praise the Lord.

It's all like a catfish eating off the bottom of the lake.

God doesn't want us to be a catfish, praise the Lord. He don't want us eating

off the bottom. He wants us eating off the top.

He wants us eating the finest of the wheat. He

wants us to be people that have their mind on

higher things praise God hallelujah let's

raise our hands say God give us something from above God get put it in my children's

life let them see the value God of what we're talking about here tonight let

this neighborhood God open their eyes let them see the value let them realize

some things come from above there are higher things than the newest hit record.

Higher things than your coach football team's winning record or losing record.

There's things that are higher than whether the baseball team's doing good or not.

And the only problem with any of that stuff is when it starts pulling people

away from higher things. And some of that stuff does.

That's the problem. It ain't no problem with somebody hitting a ball with a bat.

Ain't no problem with kids getting together, trying to get a ball through a hoop at a picnic.

But the problem with that stuff is it's so powerful. The spirit is so powerful.

The adversary uses that to pull men's affection away from the real things that

are higher. Oh, don't tell me it ain't working.

You know it's working. We had 20 here this morning, probably 25, 30 here tonight.

Fire up the football game, boys and girls. You get 60,000. And guess what?

They didn't do it on Sundays. The devil didn't put it on Sundays by accident.

It's all right there. And they'll go, now listen to me now.

You know how it is. They'll go down there. I was talking to Sister Young.

We passed a lot down there on Washington Street today, right across from the

speedway, and it's an empty lot.

She said, we talked about what used to be. There used to be some shepherd community

places down the street now.

And I said, if that was downtown, that'd be a valuable lot.

You could charge people $40 a spot.

Park people go downtown and pay

30 and 40 dollars to park for a

football game that's going to cost them who knows how much

to get in i don't even know how much and they'll go

in there and they'll go down there and park and they'll take their picnic

basket and they'll sit there and drink and eat

and pay 40 and then they'll go in and i don't know

how much a game ticket would be and they'll spend two three

four hundred dollars five hundred dollars on one

day because you know why and they'll paint their face blue

and paint their face half white or bengal tiger

stripes or whatever you know why that's where their

heart is that's where their affection is and the adversary in the flesh pulls

men away from things that are high that's why you have to preach like this every

once in a while say set your affection on things that are above get your mind

on the right track think about your salvation.

Beautiful plan that he has for humanity and the power of it and the value of it. Praise the Lord.

Man, I feel like preaching tonight. I'm sorry, but I'm not sorry.

I'm not really sorry. Hallelujah.

Christ. See, we have introduced here higher things. We have God. What does that mean?

Deity, something that's above, something that's there and it's more powerful,

all powerful, all supreme. and we are introduced to that idea.

And then we're introduced to the idea of a man named Jesus who sits at the right

hand, who is the operating force,

the force that this deity is using, the thing that the deity is using,

all power, Jesus said, in heaven and earth is given unto me, hallelujah.

All power from deity has been invested in Christ Jesus. It's been given to him. Hallelujah.

Not Mohammed, not Buddha, not none of these other people, not Peter Pan,

Chad, but it's in the name of Jesus.

At the name of Jesus Christ Christ.

Father. Hallelujah. Are you with me? We're going high here.

We're going high now. I said, we're going high. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.

Terry said, let's go. I like somebody sitting on the front row saying, let's go.

That's good. Praise the Lord. Let's go.

Okay. Next thing, number three, we are introduced to the fact now I could talk

about the right hand, honor, done or dignity, power, authority.

He's seated there. He's been placed there to stay.

He's seated there. It's like when you seat a senator or you seat an official, they take their seat.

That is their position. That is where they stay. That's where they abide.

Christ is seated at the right hand of God forever and ever maketh intercession

for us. Aren't you glad about that?

Let's raise your hands and say, thank God for intercession.

Thank God that that man named Jesus Christ was born into this world.

Amen. We're getting ready to celebrate Christmas, and I hope you celebrate the

birth of Jesus and kick Santa Claus down the road. Praise the Lord. I'm so sick of it.

They had Santa Claus. We come around the corner the other day by the school,

and these people had a blow-up Santa, and it was a two-story house,

and that blow-up Santa was up almost to the gutters of that second story house,

they got their big Santa.

Radical, I'd go over there and cut it to pieces. You see, that's another thing.

You see, what happens is things that are from beneath, things that are nothing,

things that are nothing, they're guttural, they're from the bottom,

they're from wickedness, they're from nothing, they're carnal, they're foolish.

They come in and they push out things that are valuable.

They push Christ right out of Christmas. Come on, somebody. You know how it

is. You know that's a fact.

You got to talk about it. The only place you hear Jesus preach at Christmas

most of the time is some kind of church that's still trying to hold on to the

birthday of Jesus Christ.

And we're talking about Jesus, three shepherds, praise the Lord.

We're talking about the wise men. We're talking about a baby laying in a manger.

Amen. Where the angels sing from on high, praise God. Why?

Because it came from above, ladies and gentlemen.

It's a higher thing. Think about it. That baby was born.

I don't read anywhere the angels rejoicing over the Colts winning a football game.

I haven't never seen. Now, some people, they might think that.

They might feel that way if their team wins.

I'm just a crumb bum. He said, I'm just a crumb bum. The Pacers lost.

You see, that's what I'm going to tell you. You're not, your value is not based

on whether your team wins or not.

Your value is based on the thoughts of Jesus Christ. And your value is based

the fact that he gave his life for you.

Hey man, that's what you base your value on, not on what the world has to offer.

Hallelujah. That baby was born in a manger and the angels Bible said,

listen, here's what the Bible says.

Think about this. We sing about this. We read about this, but we don't really get it.

Why that baby was from above before the foundation of the world, the lamb was slain.

The baby was born. It was all done in the mind of God before he ever created anything.

That's why the Bible says it was, the worlds were created by Jesus Christ.

Not only the fact he was God, but by knowing what he was going to do in this

world through Jesus Christ, because God understood and he knew.

But that's so valuable. It was done before anything was created.

And we, you know, people just kick Jesus to the curb, you know,

and they don't realize how valuable that baby laying in that manger was.

They don't realize, for unto us a child is born.

Unto us a son is given.

Hallelujah. And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,

the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace.

And the government shall be upon his shoulders.

He will be responsible. He will carry the weight. This baby come from on.

When that baby was born, the Bible says, angels broke out.

The shepherds got the announcement.

You is born this day in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord.

See, we hear this stuff and we go through this stuff and we don't really think about it.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior,

which is Christ the Lord.

And the Bible says the angels busted out in heaven.

The angels, the chorus of peace, honor, and goodwill to me.

Hallelujah. Christ at the right hand of God, authority, power.

Verse 3, we have God being introduced. We have Christ being introduced.

Verse 3, for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is your life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have the concept in this scripture that will be left. behind.

Now, come on, folks. If that ain't a big deal, I don't know what is.

If that don't get you more excited than whether the Colts win or not, I don't know what will.

You mean to tell me, you see, that's when it's coming to me so fast,

I can't hardly deal with it.

Good thing I ain't ate a lot tonight today, or I'd be worried. I praise the Lord.

Good thing I had a bunch of chicken. I might get some on the way home,

but I ain't had none yet. Hallelujah.

We are introduced through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Death will be abolished. Come on, somebody. The last enemy to be defeated will be death.

We are introduced to the idea that death will be done away with.

If that ain't the biggest thing in the world, I don't know what is.

If that's not higher things, I don't know what is.

Because see, men for centuries, that's why we sing those Christmas songs.

That's why we sing those Christmas songs. That's.

And error pining. Pining is just thinking, thinking about why things are like they are.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining. Just thinking about why do we live? Why do we die?

Why are things like they are? But then the Bible.

Holy night. Oh, hallelujah. Oh, holy night.

My God. He couldn't. The greatest event in humanity was the birth of Jesus Christ.

He couldn't die unless he was born.

He couldn't die, but he came. Once he was here, the plan of God was being understood.

Walking down the streets of Jerusalem, dying on the cross, buried in the tomb for three days.

And on the third day, he came out of there.

Death had been abolished. Hallelujah.

I have the keys. Now, death, hell, and the grave. Woo-hoo! Hand up.

Set your mind on higher things. God, Christ, your resurrection from the brave,

life beyond this veil of tears. Hallelujah.

Our life is hidden with Christ in God, true life hidden with Christ in God.

We are now in divine. We are now operating in something that's valuable.

Hallelujah. Shabbatai. Hallelujah.

Death will be behind. I got to hurry. My God, I feel the Holy Ghost.

Hallelujah. We'll find out what true life really is.

Of verse 4, when Christ, who is your life, shall appear.

The next great thing introduced, the next reality introduced is Christ will appear.

He will reappear. He will be revealed.

And the hideousness and the gloriousness of his power and his presence,

the hiddenness, I should say, not the hideousness, the hiddenness,

the fact that he has been hid will be revealed. My God.

They're going to look on him whom they've pierced one of these days,

the Bible said. Amen. The Bible says every eye shall see him.

Everybody's going to know who he is then. His name shall be one.

Our God shall be one. The Lord shall be one in his name, one.

The Jews are going to look on him whom they've pierced, and they're going to

realize he has appeared. He has here, praise God, the one.

And number four, we shall appear with him in glory. My God. I'm talking about higher things.

Just raise your hands right now. God, open our eyes and see higher things.

God, get our mind off our telephone. Get our mind off the world.

Get our mind off this and off that. And let us catch a light,

catch a glimpse of these higher things.

Abraham had a glimpse of higher things. The Bible says, Abram looked for a city

whose builder and maker was God.

The bible talks about Jerusalem which is

from above hallelujah my god whoo

seek after look for strive for strive to

find endeavor amen something that is above higher things that which is above

that pursue go after it praise the lord understand it treasure it favor it set

your affection on it exercise your mind to it enter into it give a sentiment

of your opinion about it be mentally only dispose for a certain direction,

interest oneself in intensity.

And the streets are made of gold, my God. We need to conform to these realities.

See, these realities are introduced here as the music comes.

This is reality. What you see on television, they might call it reality. It ain't reality.

The reality shows are scripted, folks. I don't care what you say.

They say the reality, God's saying, get your mind off of that junk.

Come on. There's something a lot better than days of our lives.

There's something a lot better than Oprah. I don't even know what's on there anymore.

So much something greater than Netflix and Hulu and Roblox or whatever it is, Roku or whatever.

There's so much better than all that stuff. And humanity, we are built and made in the image of God.

And we are given the capabilities to understand what I'm talking about here tonight.

That's the thing. Men are coming so short of the glory of God.

Because they're not setting their affection, man is subject to vanity.

They follow after things that are empty and they mean nothing.

When we have the ability to be born again and become a child of God and have

a mind that thinks and a mind that can see and a mind that can understand the hidden things,

things that are hidden from the world, they don't see it.

If the gospel is hid, it's hid

to them that are lost, whom the God of this world has blinded their mind.

We need to pray for our loved ones. Open their eyes, God.

Let them see the value of taking their children to church.

Let them see the value of going to church. Let them see the value of having

those little guys right there on the seats and having them sit.

Even if they fall asleep, it's valuable.

Fall asleep during the service. Their body is absorbing the presence of God.

Hey, man, I said it's still valuable. Well, all they're going to do is fall

asleep, bring them, and let them fall asleep.

I've slept through many of them. Praise the Lord.

They need to be introduced to higher realities.

Let's raise our hands as the music starts tonight. I got to quit, but I can go on.

Set your affection, Paul said, Colossians. Come on, Colossians.

Amen. Don't be bogged down by stuff.

Now, he said, you've been raised with Christ.

It's a place I've never lived before, but Mama's prayers finally caught up with me.

So I headed down to the altar and hit my knee.

Thank you for listening to our podcast. Southwest Apostolic Church is a place of refuge.

If we can help you, we'd be glad to do it. Pastor's cell number, 317-469-3100.

If we can help you, we'd be glad to do it. God bless.