WWUTT 376 All These Things Will Be Dissolved?

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Living lives of holiness and godliness does not merely mean that we are abstaining from sin.

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Rather, it means that we are in full pursuit of God and His holiness when we understand the text.

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You're listening to When We Understand The Text, committed to the sound teaching of the Word of God. Find videos and more at our website, www .tt

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.com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky, and greetings, everyone.

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I hope you had a wonderful day in the Lord yesterday with the body of Christ, worshiping together with the church, and thank you for joining me this week as we conclude our study of 2

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Peter between today, tomorrow, and Wednesday. We're back in 2 Peter 3, and we'll be looking at verses 11, 12, and 13 primarily.

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But I'm going to go back to verse 8 because there's some things we'll talk about today that are still in context with some of the things we were looking at last week.

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2 Peter 3, starting in verse 8. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the

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Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.

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The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

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But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and then the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

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Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn?

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But according to His promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

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Let's come back to verse 11 here where Peter says, since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what things?

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Well, the things that we talked about in verse 10. The day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar.

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Same way that Paul describes the day of the Lord to the Thessalonians. It's going to be bright and loud, with the cry of a command and a sound of the trumpet of God.

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Peter just puts it into one word, roar. It's just going to be loud. It's going to be a declaration, a proclamation of the

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Lord's return, like a king enters a city and there's the processional. There's the trumpets that will play and will herald

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His coming. It's going to be the same when Christ returns. It is going to be a bright event.

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It is going to be loud, and there will be no mistaking what it is that has happened. Peter describes it as happening with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved.

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The same day that the Lord returns is also going to be the day that He brings His wrath. A day of wrath is that day, as it says in the book of Zechariah.

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For us who are in Christ, we're looking forward to that day as the day of our deliverance.

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It is the day of our salvation, when we are delivered finally from this world and this peril and sin and evil and death, the last enemy that will be destroyed.

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We are transferred into His eternal kingdom, where these things do not exist. There is nothing that is subject to corruption.

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There is no more evil, no more death, no more dying, no more pain. No more tears, no more suffering.

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We will be forever with God, who has subjected all things under His feet.

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So we are looking forward to that day as being a day of deliverance. But to those who are not in Christ, if you do not know

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Christ Jesus, that is a day to fear, for it is a day of wrath. When Jesus comes, you who do not know

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Christ will not be delivered into His eternal kingdom, but will be subject to His wrath, will be cast out of His presence forever.

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Because in ushering in His peaceful kingdom, when Jesus brings in His peaceful kingdom, that means

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He must remove everybody who is in opposition to that kingdom. So everyone who practiced unrighteousness, everyone who did evil deeds, will thus be removed as that peaceful kingdom comes in.

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What will happen to them? Well, they will be cast into hell. They will be put into eternal torment forever, out of the presence of God for all eternity, into a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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There is no resolve. There is no hope. It is eternal torment.

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So I say this to you so that you understand the urgency of turning from sin and following Jesus Christ, because who knows when that day will arrive.

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Now, whether or not you are convinced that the day of the Lord would come on a day like today, or sometime way off into the future,

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I don't quite see the signs yet. Well, you do not know what day you will die.

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You have no idea what could happen to you that could end your life, and you would appear before the throne of judgment now.

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So turn from your sin and follow Christ, for nobody knows the day that the

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Lord will take him from this world. So Peter is talking here about the coming of the day of the

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Lord, and he says that day is going to come like a thief. The heavens will pass away with a roar. The heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

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The apostle Paul, speaking with the Corinthians, talks about it this way. First Corinthians chapter 3, verse 10, according to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder,

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I laid a foundation. And someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.

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For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is

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Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

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If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.

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If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

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Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys

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God's temple, God will destroy him, for God's temple is holy and you are that temple.

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So the works that we do, may they be done in service to Christ our King. May they be works that have eternal value in Christ Jesus our

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Lord, not limited value, not something that would reap for us some sort of earthly or worldly reward.

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These kinds of works will be burned up and dissolved. They will account for nothing in God's eternal kingdom.

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But may the works we do in service to our King be of eternal value.

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We are doing the works that Christ did. We are loving one another in the church. We are loving the word of God and growing in knowledge of that word, growing in our love for one another and for God through the word of God.

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These are the things that we commit ourselves to according to Christ. And on that day, the day that Christ returns, the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

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Were those works done in service to Christ or were they done to attain something worldly?

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Those works that were done to achieve worldly things will not carry over.

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They will not advance into that eternal kingdom of God. Now all of us have done those works.

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And in fact, today you will probably do some of those works. There are some things that you may do apply yourself to that really have no eternal significance or eternal value to them.

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Maybe you do them today because you just like doing it. I'm just, I don't know, play video games.

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What eternal value is there in playing video games? I play video games too.

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But I'm just saying that in the long term perspective, these are things that are worldly. They're not going to have any eternal lasting value.

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So there are things that we apply ourselves to that will not lead to our destruction. As Paul is talking about with the

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Corinthians, this person will still be saved, but the works that they've done have no eternal lasting quality to them.

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And so may we be all the more heavenly minded so that we would apply ourselves to things that would be in praise to our great

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God who has saved us. These are the things that we will cherish forever for all eternity.

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Verse 11, since these things are thus to be dissolved, since all these things on earth, all of these worldly things that have no eternal lasting value, since all these things are to be dissolved, what sort of people ought we to be in living lives of holiness and godliness?

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As Paul put it with the Ephesians, making the best use of the time because the days are evil, using every opportunity that is available to us, not only to live in service to God, but to preach the gospel, to grow in love for the saints, husbands that we would be applying ourselves to loving our wives and discipling our homes, our wife, our children.

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May we be applying ourself in this way. This has eternal value to it.

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How many of us are coming home from work and our face is still stuck in our smartphone instead of paying attention to the family?

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Quality time with the family does not mean that you are merely present, okay? You don't sit down on the couch, you pull out your iPad, you're staring at the iPad, you're going, okay, family, do something, all right?

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Here I am. Let's spend some time together. You got to put the electronics down, dad. You've got to pay attention to your family.

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Do something with them. Do something deliberate. Know exactly what you're going to do. Build a puzzle or something.

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I don't know. I don't know what your family's into, but pick some quality time and don't have all those other distractions that are around you.

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Sometimes when I get home from work, which work for me would be at the church, but I'll take my phone and I'll set it on the table that's by the door.

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I'll turn the ringer on, so in case somebody has to get in touch with me, I'll hear it ring. But otherwise,

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I don't have it with me, so I'm looking at Twitter updates when they come to me or every single text message doesn't need to be responded to right away.

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I'm home and I'm with my family. I don't do this all the time, but sometimes I know I've got to be disciplined today to set the phone down because it's going to become a distraction.

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So maybe you have to do something like that. When it comes to the things that we do that have eternal value, even the job that you have, the job that you go to on a regular basis, even that has eternal value if it is done in service to God.

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So you can go to your job and it's just your job. You know, ho hum, I'm just here.

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I'm just doing my job, da da da da da, cashing my paycheck so I can provide for my family. But if you do all things to the praise of God and you know that you are working for God first and not for man, as is talked about in Colossians chapter three, then you can praise

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God for the work that you are doing, the job that you have, and then it becomes something that has eternal significance because the job that you're doing is first for the

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Lord before it is for any man. So you can praise Christ for this opportunity to work and and and knowing that God's eyes are on you and the integrity that you have on the job is in service to God before it is to any man.

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I am doing this to please the Lord. You can even do the job that you do to earn your paycheck in pleasure to God, being able to worship him in a right way because you have been justified in Christ Jesus and are being sanctified in Christ.

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So now that has made you worthy to worship in a proper way, you can do your job to the praise of his glorious grace.

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So even your regular work is now has eternal significance now can be done in a way that is eternally pleasing.

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It rolls up into praise to God. As I've talked about this before, you can eat and drink at a table and praise

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God for the food that is going in your mouth and the drink that is touching your lips. And it rolls up into praise.

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It is it has eternal value to it, whereas a person who does not know God cannot experience these things in this way.

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The significance terminates with the experience. Boy, that food tasted good.

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That's all they got. Maybe they have a memory of good tasting food, but that's it. It's going to account for absolutely nothing.

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This is this is those who do not have Christ or those that do not praise God for the things that they have, the food that they eat, the job that they are given, the family that they have, the church that they are a part of.

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When we do not praise God for these things, then we we do not apply any eternal significance to that thing with which the

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Lord has blessed us with. So there are things that we are surrounded by that can be eternally significant.

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They don't have to be worldly. But I'm telling you that today you will do things that you are not thankful for and you do not praise

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God for. And therefore, that thing that you do does not have any eternal significance to you as you are doing it.

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And so since we know that all the things on this world are going to pass away and amount to ultimately nothing, when the judgment of God comes, even the job that you have is not going to be a job that you're going to continue to do in God's eternal kingdom.

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So you don't have anything to worry about a ho -hum job, ho -hum, I don't enjoy my job.

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It's just the career that I have. It's the thing that I do because I know that I need to provide for myself and for my family.

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Well, when you came to Christ, you shouldn't have that attitude about your job anymore. You should praise God for that job.

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And you know that it doesn't matter if it's just a humdrum kind of a task, because ultimately it's going to amount to nothing.

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I mean, when the judgment of the Lord comes and all of the earth will pass away, the job that you do does not have any eternal significance at all, but it can when you thank

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God for it. OK, is this making sense? When you praise God for the job that you have, then it's eternally significant.

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But if you just look at it for the job that you have to do, it's just kind of a ho -hum thing that you're trudging through.

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Then there is no eternal significance there. Praise God for the job that you have.

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Stay at home moms. Praise God for the job that you have. This this opportunity to raise up children and to praise

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God for the children that he has blessed you with, to be able to raise them up and train them up in the in the discipline of the

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Lord. You are doing this first for God. The kids don't appreciate you. Of course they don't. They're children.

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But you praise God and you do it in service to him, even if your kids don't show you the appreciation that you deserve because of all the sacrifices that you make, mom.

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All right. The relationships that we have in this world, maybe associations that we have that we can't do anything about.

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And some of those relationships are rather oppressive. They they put us down. Maybe they're part of a job or something that we have to do in the community.

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Maybe it's political. I don't know. There is nothing that you can do about those associations.

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You have them. They're part of life and they really kind of make life a little miserable for you.

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Those associations that you have. I'm being very vague here because I'm sure that there's something going on specifically in your life.

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You might be able to fit into that compartment that I'm describing. But even here, there are ways to praise

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God. There is something to be thankful for. First Thessalonians 5 18.

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Give thanks to God in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

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That we would be thankful in all circumstances. Philippians 4 4 Paul said to the Philippians, rejoice always.

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I will say it again. Rejoice, not when things feel the best for you, not when things are going the way that you think that they should go, not when you have the feeling of happiness.

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But in all circumstances, we rejoice in our Lord God, knowing that no matter what is going on in our lives, that we have salvation in Christ.

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Our sins have been forgiven. We have right standing with God because of the death of Christ on the cross and his resurrection from the grave.

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And we are promised those who have been baptized with Christ in his death and thus raised with him in his resurrection, that we are going to be fellow heirs, recipients in this eternal kingdom of his.

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The things that we experience on this earth are temporary. They will not last. Praise God, we are looking for this kingdom in which the sufferings that we endure on this earth will not continue since all these things are thus to be dissolved.

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What sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness? So we are pursuing a life of holding holiness and we are pursuing living in godliness.

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This does not merely mean that you abstain from sin. Well, as long as I'm not doing evil things, then

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I must be holy and godly. Even the Pharisees did that. No, it is the pursuit of God.

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It is the desire to be like God. And these are things that you must chase after, that you must constantly discipline your mind toward, that you must meditate on the things of God and realize that at this very moment, the way that Paul describes it with the

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Colossians in Colossians chapter three is that we have died and our life is hidden with Christ in God, seated at the right hand of God.

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That's where we are. We're hidden with Christ in the heavenly places. So how heavenly minded should we be?

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Always taking our thoughts and submitting them to the Lord and contemplating the things that are heavenly, praising

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God for his his wonderful mercy and love that he pours out upon us in each and every circumstance in our lives.

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Everything that we go through, there is a place to see where God has been merciful and loving and gracious toward us.

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So find that and praise him for it. And all of that, you find the eternal significance in all of those things when you can praise

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God for every circumstance that you are in. It's what God has commanded us to do, but we should desire to do it.

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I love God with my whole heart, soul, mind and strength. I'm going to do this for him and give him all the praise and the glory for it.

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So all of these things are thus going to be dissolved, we ought to be people that are living lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn.

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That's the section that we'll be talking about tomorrow. Our Lord God, we thank you for this conviction that we would we would realize there's so many different things in the world that our minds are getting caught up in and we're getting lost in worldly things.

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We may not we may not think that we're in pursuit of worldly things, but if they are things that have taken our minds away from God, then we're thinking about the worldly instead of thinking about the heavenly.

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And so, Lord, we are asking now that we've read these scriptures today and our hearts have been convicted, that we are turning our minds away from the worldly and back toward the things of Christ, that we are giving you glory and you praise for this daily bread that we eat, for this job that is ahead of us, for this book that we have, the opportunity to read, for a phone call that we got from a friend, for the daily tasks like washing the dishes or doing the laundry, cooking dinner and then sitting around the table and being able to eat a meal together, for this fellowship, for this time of talking, for the time that we have right now to pray and read the scriptures in everything that we do, whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, help us to know how to do all this to the glory of God.

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Give us minds that are set on the heavenly things, not on the earthly things, to the praise of your glorious grace.

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And we pray and ask these things in Jesus name. Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the

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Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. We hope you are a part of the church family committed to gospel teaching, and we thank you for including us in your

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Bible learning. If you would consider a gift to this ministry, please visit www .utt

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