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Bro. Otis Fisher
Where does your mind go when it's not occupied? First verse in Colossians 3, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Seek those things which are above.
You do not find them unless you seek for them. They won't just come along and say, here I am. We have to seek those things. We must think those things. Everything is first a thought. There's two points of view in this world.
Man's which is held responsible. God's which is supreme for he is sovereign. God's will overrides everything. Nothing will occur but that which brings praise to his glory. Since man does not know the absolute will of God, does he know the absolute will of God?
Do you know the will of God? David, do you know the will of God? Since you do not know the will of God, absolutely, then you're held responsible for the things you do. How can that be? All events are redeemed of God, but man does them because he wants to do it.
Russell, you're here today because you wanted to be. Therefore man must answer for what he does. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. If we set our affections on things that are above, what things are above, Bill?
Anything else, Clarence? Russell, are things sinful? Name something that's sinful. They're not. You sure? Joy, are things sinful? All right, they become sinful when it's used for sin. Third verse, for you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
For you are dead. Virge, what does dead mean? Is your old sin nature dead? Then the sin nature is dead or not? I don't get it. Well, it says you are dead. All right, when did you die? You weren't even born then.
Bill, explain this dilemma. We're dead to the old nature. Is that right or wrong? Diane, you want to say something? What did Paul mean when he says, I die daily? David, right now you're dead. Is that right?
Right now you're dead. You're dead to the old nature. All right. It keeps rearing its head every once in a while. It's not dead to us, Virge. We have been separated from it. We are dead to it. Christ died to the old nature.
Your life is his life, not yours. It is his. For when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Now, when he shall appear, Joy, does that mean that he is coming back?
And he will appear to who? All right. So when he comes, when he comes, we come. Is it possible for him to come without us? All right. Our life will not be seen until he appears in glory. Is that right or wrong?
Even then it's not our life, it's his. Mortify, therefore, because you're dead. Mortify, what's mortify mean? We get our word mortuary. Your members which are upon earth. Greg, what are your members on earth?
Well, what are they? All right. Your members which are upon earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affections, evil concupiscence, covetousness, which is idolatry. Now, he's not talking about tangible things.
He's talking about something that exists where, David? In the mind. That's right. The old man has reared his head. Get rid of those things. Never allow the beast to run away with the man. Therefore, because of a once for all act on his part, kill everything carnal by refusing to obey it.
That's all you have to do is just not obey it. Uncontrolled lust or passion, people use the excuse, well, I just could not control myself. Is that a reason or an excuse? Like the little boy that was visiting his grandmother and his grandmother told him not to get in the cookie jar.
He was quiet for quite a while, and she called him and wanted to know where he was, and he says, I'm in the pantry fighting temptation with cookie jar. He shouldn't have even been in the pantry. Six, for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience.
Now, the children of disobedience are the seed of Satan. But it says, for which things sake the wrath of God, for the thing sake, for the sake of the thing. What's he talking about, Greg? I'm having a hard time understanding.
Now, those things are what? For which things sake. Russell makes sense out of that. David, you make sense out of it. Well, but for the thing sake. What's that mean, Bill? For the sake of the very things that are evil.
For the sake of them. Because they exist, his wrath will come on the children of disobedience. It won't come on his. It'll come on the seed of Satan. Yes. Yes. Into which ye also walk sometimes when you lived in them.
He's not letting us off the hook to forget it completely. We did sin when we were sinners. We have all been unsaved. And we walked in these things of wrath. But now ye also put off all things, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communications out of your mouth.
Lie not one to another seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds. Lie not one to another. Stop lying is what it's saying. Stop lying to each other. Brings up the question, what is a lie?
Greg, what is a lie? Say it again. I said a lie. An untrue, inadequate, inaccurate, or misleading statement. It can be an untruth, prevarication, fabrication, falsehood, falsification, falsity, whopper, informal, tall tale, tall story, white lie, fib, misstatement, misrepresentation, distortion, exaggeration, and so forth.
Misapplication of the truth. Yes. Anything told in such a way to mislead. It can be the truth, but you tell it in a way to mislead. That's right. And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.
Put on the new man. We're always talking about the new man. The new man. What is the new man, David? Born from above. And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge. To renew something means that once it was what?
It was new. So we want to renew it in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Now, which him is he talking about? Created him. What? After the image of him that created him. That's just one him.
Who's talking? All right. Renewed in knowledge after the image of him. That's Jesus Christ. That created him. That's man. After man was created, he was created pure. If he could have held that, he would have been pure.
Which there's a whole lot of things we wouldn't know. But he would have been pure and holy. Renewed means that one time it was new, as Greg said. After sin, it became old. We are to study to make our mind more like his in knowledge.
We can never equal his. But we can be more like his. Yes, that's right. What is the image and the likeness? Right. Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, but Christ is all and in all.
Now, Christ is all. That says it all. He is all, everything. And not only that, he is in everything. He is the glue that holds it all together. Without him, there would be nothing. Barbarian, all that were not Greeks.
Scythian, this is the worst kind of barbarian. They come from the north part of the Black Sea. They would drink their victim's blood from their skull. Victim's skull. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering.
These are made possible only from the Holy Spirit and only to God as we walk through this valley with the shadow of death. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God. So you are an elect of God. Therefore, you should put on this.
Holy, beloved, bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness and long-suffering. It's only in effect to God. And by being in effect to him, it affects your relationship with each other. But you cannot have that relationship with each other until you have it with God.
I'm going to have to stop here. We'll start with 13 next time. Bill, dismiss us, would you please?