Okay guys, here we go. Uh, it's good to be with you, everybody that's joining us at the sites. If you'll remember last week, and I said we were gonna have a two-part conversation about this passage in Colossians chapter three, and it was gonna help us wrap up this big series we've been in for several weeks, called Here and Now, and also help us kind of turn the corner towards all that God has for us this fall. All that's true. I just wanna start by reminding us of the main punchline of this conversation we've been having for several weeks. And it's simply this. God is with us. God's present with us in all of our circumstances. He understands them. When we pray to him, he can hear our praise prayers. He hears our cries to him. He wants to be involved in our lives. In fact, he invites us into this new kinda life with him where he's in charge and he's leading us in beautiful ways, and we know how the story ends. And so we get to live our lives with a kind of hope about the future that even changes the way we live. Now, that's what we've been talking about. And now we're gonna head back into this, this verse in Colossians three. But, um, before we go to that, I'm gonna pray. And before I do that, lemme just remind everybody that wherever you're coming from today to join us, uh, whatever's going on with you, wherever you are in your relationship with Jesus, uh, whether you think about God a lot these days or hardly at all, we believe here that God still speaks to us through his word. That his Holy Spirit can actually empower us as we unpack this together and, and helps us understand, helps us hear it, and leads us in this life. And so when we pray, we ask him to help us with that. And so that's what I'd like to do. Can we, can we do that together? All right. Join me. Father, we come before you now and ask that you would speak to us. God, show us what this life looks like that you're inviting us to live, uh, as we take steps into our future together. Um, would you now give us our marching orders? We're listening. Speak to us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Okay, so you guys might have already noticed. I have my friend Joel joining me up here. Some of you were worried, we're like, does Tim know there's a guy standing in? My, um, Joel, you and I are gonna kind of team teach today. And uh, for those of you who are new to the, crossing them out might sound kind of strange, but it's something we do every now and then 'cause it's fun. And, uh, well, Joel, why don't you introduce yourself to everybody. Sure. And then let's talk a little bit about why we might do it this way today. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, if, if we haven't had the chance to meet, my name is Joel Burke. I have been on staff now for like, I dunno, 16 or 17 years. Yeah. It started when I was 12. Like They were hiring young in those days. Yeah. Um, but I spent most of my time, especially the past few years, uh, at our Fenton campus. And so I was shout out to to, to them, uh, in my head they are hooping and hollering and dancing down the aisles right now, throwing stop. So thank you guys for joining us, uh, grants Trail, mid Rivers. It's so fun to have you guys with us as well. Um, and we, like, back in the day, you and I got to do similar things like this in a couple of different settings. And, um, and it's just been really fun. It keeps things interesting and, and fresh and hopefully like we get to pay attention a little bit easier. But yeah, it's just been really good. It's good. Hopefully we'll keep things interesting for you all. And uh, part of it is, like you said, we just have fun doing this. We're friends. Mm-Hmm. We've been friends for a long time. We're fishing buddies and That's right. You know, so here we are. Um, but one of the reasons that I thought it would be great to have you be a part of this conversation with us is because, uh, those of you who know Joel and I know at Fenton, a whole bunch of you know him really well, you know that one of the like defining characteristics of this guy is his love for God's word. Uh, Joel loves scripture, and in many ways you even see the way that, like the Bible has made its way into his heart and it's the way he lives his life. And so I think that's gonna be really good because if you go back to a verse we looked at last week when Paul says, set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. You guys remember that verse? Mm-Hmm. And we talked about how, uh, part of that is Paul saying you have this new life in Christ, you know, where this thing is headed. And so now, um, think about like the thoughts that are like kingdom values, heaven's values versus the values of this world. Well, one of the ways we do that is by immersing ourselves in scripture. It is in the Bible where we learn the values of the kingdom. Mm-Hmm. We learn what a what a life that is, uh, defined by the kingdom of heaven is supposed to look like. And so, uh, this is, this is one of the ways that we unpack all of This. Yeah. And so just real quick, um, one of our core values, well, first we really do believe this is the word of God. Let's start there. Yeah. And one of our core values is that we also believe that this is the primary way that God speaks to us. Second Timothy three 16 says that, uh, God breathed this out. And it's useful for things like teaching and rebuking and correcting and training and righteousness. In other words, uh, if you have questions about, really about anything, the meaning of life or maybe the your purpose here on earth or what's right and what's wrong, or how am I supposed to treat others? We start here. And when we start reading this book, you will find, at least I have, that it begins to permeate your life. And it, it transforms the way that I think about things. A quick example is, uh, just a few days ago, I was just having one of those days where it just felt like everything was just piling on top of me, and that there was no end. I'm starting to get bear. You ever been there before? And so for me, when I get there, all of the insecurities start bubbling up to the surface. Uh, and in every part of, like for me as a pastor or a dad, or a husband or a friend, these whispers start coming up in every part of my life that says, you're not good enough to do this. What do you think you're doing? And I could listen to that, but then I'm reminded of what God's word actually says. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged for the Lord. Your God is with you wherever you go. Or even Psalm 1 39, we looked at it earlier and said, you knit me together in my mother's womb. God word, God's word reminds me that he loves me, that I am His, and that he is with me. That's the truth. Not these things that begin to just kinda whisper themselves to me. But the rock solid firm, everlasting word of God, Hebrew says that this word is living and active, which means in some kind of powerfully profound way, this book will actually change my life. Truly change my life if I allow it to. Yeah. Yeah. Joel, I I hear you saying in that, that when we, when we immerse ourselves in God's word, it can shape us. It transforms us, uh, uh, from the inside out. Mm-Hmm. You know, and one way of saying that like it, that it, it makes us different. Suddenly we become different than the world around us. Which isn't to say that we, we like, we become weird. Some of us are just weird. That's not the Bible's fault. Um, but, but we, we become different from the rest of the world, right. In a way that hopefully is, is intriguing and invites people to wanna know more about the Jesus that we're following. And it gets us back to that prayer that Jesus prayed for his followers, that we would, we're not of the world any more than He's of the world, but we are sent into the world just as the Father has sent him. So we are in the world, but not of it. Yeah. And there's actually a, a word for that. And it's, it's holiness. And the Bible says that when you surrender your life to Christ, when you get to the end of yourself, uh, and admit that you cannot do this without him, and you accept this free gift of grace that Jesus offers, we talk about this all the time. And when you do that, the Bible says that you are holy. And I don't want that word to throw you. 'cause I know some of you are now picturing, uh, dude in like, elaborate robes and ornate hats. Or maybe it's the person that somehow finds, uh, a way to seclude himself from everyone else and spend hours on end in prayer. Here's the deal. Holy simply means set apart. And those of us who follow Christ, we worship a holy God, a set apart God. And we are called to be like him, which means we are set apart from the rest of the world. Think about it like this. Uh, we live in a, we live in a world that that dismisses you the second you make a mistake. But we are to be different. You are to bear with one another because Christ hasn't given up on you. We, we live in a world full of people who think only of themselves. We are to be different. You are to, uh, think of others before you because Christ put you first. We live in a world, uh, where we are so quick to hate and, and cause divides between each other. We are to be different. You are to hold everything together in love because that's how Christ treats you. So it really is this holiness, this set apart a way to live in this world uhhuh differently. Yeah. Yeah. It, it's, um, it's a holiness where we're set apart, not in a way that we're better than everybody else. That's not what you're saying. You're saying that we're, we're set apart to reflect to the world who Jesus is. And the truth is, this is at the core of what Paul is talking about in Colossians three, this passage we've been in. Uh, it, it's what, uh, God tells his people throughout scripture. So you can go all the way back to Leviticus 19 verse two. And God says to his people, be holy. Therefore, as I am holy, you are gonna be my representatives on earth. You're set apart for this. And so Paul is trying to help us wrap our brains around this. And he's gonna give us a really fun word picture to kind of start to help. So we're gonna keep reading now in Colossians chapter three. And we're gonna pick up with verses nine and 10. Paul's finishing a thought here and he says, so, so do not lie to each other. Since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in the image of its creator, you take off the old self and you put on the new self. It's a really interesting word picture here. And we'll talk about the new self more. But let's, let's talk about the old self just a minute here. Um, we said last weekend, this is that, uh, that idea of all those things that we're not exactly proud of, but, but we all have going on in our lives. Anger, rage, jealousy, uh, the things that lead to regret and shame and brokenness in our lives. Uh, if you remember Paul says, you died to all of those things. When you choose to do life with Jesus, all those things are nailed to the cross. And so we put those things off. And, and so, uh, when we choose to do life with Jesus, he moves in. He forgives us, he heals us. He restores us, and he begins to help us live into this new life. Paul says, we put on the new self. Now, I don't know about you, Joel. There's so many ways that, like, this picture kind of gets painted in my head, but for me, this is how I think of the old self. If I can just share this with you. So this right here, you guys know what this is? This is my old marching band jacket from high school. Huh? Still fits. Thank you. Look at That. You Love that. Which Is really kind of impressive. Like way to go, man. We, um, We, uh, we, uh, we wore 'em bigger back in those days. Um, This is the nineties, right? Uh, but, uh, even as I put this jacket on, first of all, some of you're like, Tim, I didn't know you were a marching man. What instrument did you play? Well, trombone, as you can see right here. But, um, this is central cults like represent, uh, shout out to Doug Hofer is still the marching band director, even all after all these years. He's amazing. But here, here's my point. Um, when I look at this jacket, I got this thing 30 years ago, which even as I say, that's just a long time. Uh, but, um, but if I think back to when I was in high school and, and I know there's high school kids who were here, and I'm not, I'm not talking about you guys. Um, I'm just talking about me. Back in those days, if I started to describe to you what was that kid like, who wore this jacket, I could tell you about my ego, my insecurities, the way those came out in relationships, the way that I would use some of those relationships for my own advantage. And I would, uh, be kind of, uh, maybe manipulative sometimes. I mean, I could go back to those days and say, there were some things going on then that I wasn't that proud of because I was just figuring out who Jesus was for the first time in my early days in high school. Well, I've been following him now for 30 years, and I, I've learned a lot since then. I I've, I've grown up in Jesus as he's continually shown me what this life is supposed to look like with him. I can't just keep walking around in this same old jacket, right? At some point, I have to get to a place where I take off the old self so that I can put on the new self. That's how I think of this. Now, uh, what is that new self that we're putting on? Well, Paul talks about this. We're gonna look at it here in a little bit, and we're gonna keep talking about that new self. But this is just me, Joel, what, what do you, what comes to mind For you? Yeah, the thing that comes to mind for me really is, uh, have you ever been, um, so dirty or filthy or grimy or sweaty or whatever that you just could not wait to get clean? I remember I, I worked in construction for a couple of years and, uh, we were remodeling a master bedroom in a house that was really kind of in a more like, historic part of a, of the St. Louis area. And, uh, so part of that remodel was we're replacing the ceiling. And so I'm getting up on the ladder and I start taking down the ceiling. And I quickly realized that I am now taking down the only thing that is holding up all of the insulation that was in the attic. And from the looks of it, it's the original insulation. I mean, easily 50 years old with all of the dust and all of the grime. And so I, I mean, this is all just falling down on top of me. There may have even been a dead mouse that fell down. I don't know. I mean, it was all there and, but I couldn't do anything about it. This was part of the job. I have to get this done, and it lasted all day. I just remembered thinking, I can't wait to get home to get all of this filth off of it. I don't even think those clothes made. I think they went straight to the garbage can because I didn't want to have anything to do with that anymore. I just wanted to be, to be clean. And, uh, like the other way that that represents this a little bit, I mean, we're still kind of celebrating a little bit, is this, is this the symbol of baptism? I mean, there's something powerful when, when you die with Christ and you're raised and you're clean and, and sin is just washed away. It's a Beautiful metaphor picture of of, of putting off the old self and being raised in the new self. And, and, uh, just real quick, Joel, uh, you know, we've talked about how there's this big vision weekend coming up September 7th and eighth, uh, just to further entice you to join us for that weekend, we'll get a chance to experience, you know, the world premiere of our baptism video from this last celebration. So for those of you that were a part of that, or if you missed it, you don't wanna miss that video. So we've got that coming up. Yeah. And you'll see, you'll see this really cool picture that happens over and over and over. Yeah. So there are different ways to kind of see what Paul's talking about with this new self. But one of the things that I wanna warn us, it's really tempting to fall into a trap that, okay, now Paul is just giving us like the latest, uh, like self-help formula, right? And to be truthful, there's a, there's a promise wrapped up in newness in something new. I mean, when you look at all the ads that come across our screens, uh, you'll see it's like the latest product that's gonna make you, you know, uh, look better or feel stronger or somehow defy the natural aging process. All of this really is, is a promise to make you better. And we buy into it, don't we? That means just look at the, the bestselling, uh, books, or the next time you go to a conference or a seminar at work, pay attention. Because it seems like it's always about these three key things to make you better at x. And we just live in a culture that is filled with, uh, constant self-evaluation and self-improvement. I mean, Google says that, um, so, you know, it's true, Um, that we spend $15 billion annually in the self-improvement market. We will pay or do anything to be the best versions of ourselves. And we do this because honestly, somewhere deep down inside, we know that we need to be new. We long to be clean. I mean, we know everything there is to know about ourselves, the good things, the bad things, the things that we kinda keep hidden away from everybody else. The things that we just want to completely forget about. We, we long for that guilt and the shame and the hurt and the fear to just go away. Now, please don't hear what I'm not saying. There are some good things here. It is. It's not wrong to, uh, keep improving or growing, uh, or getting healthier. Please do all of those things. But the trap is when we start thinking that this is it, I just gotta keep doing these things. I just gotta keep self-improving and doing all of it. And pretty soon it takes up residence in your life. And now that's all you can think about. It really truly becomes an like, we begin worshiping this thing. Yes, yes, there's idolatry in all of this. Because what happens is we start to put that, that idea of the ideal self up on a pedestal. We put it on the throne of our lives. And self-improvement suddenly becomes the only thing, the main thing. And, you know, the self-improvement industry is way okay with us falling into that trap because we'll spend money on it. But the truth of the matter is, if you've ever tried this, if you've ever like, shaped some ideal version of yourself and then made everything about becoming that person, what happens? We fall short, don't we? It leads to frustration, disappointment, sometimes shame and guilt because we just can't get there. And the reality is, that's how any idol works. This is such a trap. Is it just, it, it promises something that it cannot deliver and we fall short. So for, for that reason, Paul is trying to really help us understand in this passage what this is and what it isn't. And in here now he's gonna continue to share what this new self, this new life in Jesus is supposed to look like. And I want us to look at this together now because it is a beautiful passage. It's like Paul, at his best gorgeous words here that we're gonna read together. And it's kind of a long passage verses 12 through 17. But I want us to look at it, and I want us to keep everything that Joel just shared with us. Everything we've talked about up to this point, we gotta keep in mind. 'cause it'll help frame what Paul's saying here. I promise you, by the time we are done today, it'll all come together. But here's how Paul describes this new self. He says, therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, there's that word, holy clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another. If any of you has a grievance against someone, forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts since as members of one body, you were called to peace and be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through Psalms, hymns, and songs from the spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. It's a beautiful passage, and we'll talk more about some of the specific things Paul mentions here. But if you're looking at all of these, I just don't want us to miss the forest for the trees. You ever hear that expression before? Miss the forest for the trees? Are you like me? It doesn't make it. I've never fully understood what we're saying when we say that. Here's what we're saying. There's a lot of beautiful trees in that passage. Each one of them is worthy of some consideration to stop and slow down and take a look at that tree and soak in its beauty and examine it. And we can, and we should, and we will do that. But there's a forest here. I want us to notice. In other words, there's a value that all of these things are a part of that fits into all of it. And you know what that value is. You know what Paul is saying? It all comes down to how we are to do life with one another in relationship. That's what he's talking about. This is what it is to have your life hidden in Christ and to be in the world and not of it. This is what the, the news self begins to equip us for. It's all about bringing us together in loving community. And I just wanna remind us that that's exactly what we're gonna be trying to do in the weeks and months to come. So once again, uh, uh, September 7th and eighth, that's a big vision weekend. Greg will be here. He's gonna be huge. He's gonna talk to us about, uh, who we are called to be as a church, where God's leading us into the future. We'll get a chance to see that amazing baptism video. You guys have already marked your calendar to be here that weekend, right? Because I told you to and you did it, but you're gonna do it now, right? Because I just reminded you. Yeah. Okay. All right. I see some heads nodding. September 7th and eighth weekend after that. Uh, 14th, 15th. That's when we're kicking off this huge series where we're gonna learn together how to pray like Jesus prayed, pray like this. That's what we're calling it. We're gonna begin to see the world through Jesus's eyes. It's gonna be so helpful and so like, timely and, and just, it's gonna be such a good discussion as we learn, first of all, just how to live our lives dependent on our Heavenly Father. And as I said, uh, we are going to do this together in community. And that's just a huge part of this. So part of what we're saying here is, listen, for those of you, wherever you are, when it comes to following Jesus, I hope You hearing you hear me saying that this series, this fall is gonna be an opportunity to, to actually take all the things Paul just said here and put them into practice. We get to live them out with each other. So, um, that first week in 14th, 15th, that Sunday night, September 15th, we're gonna have a respite event. Some of you have joined us for those before. And so you know what that is, uh, it's just an a great opportunity for us to take an hour. It will be one hour, and that's it. And we'll slow down and get quiet and reflect on our lives and how God's leading us. And we're gonna be guided by the Lord's Prayer. It's gonna be an amazing way for us to kick off some of the things that we're headed towards that's gonna be here at our Chesterfield campus, only this time at 6:00 PM that Sunday night. So you can come join us for that. And then as the week continues, and Kids Crossing and Youth Crossing are all unpacking the weekend message together, there are gonna be small groups that are gonna be meeting all over the St. Louis area in people's homes, in restaurants, all over the place, meeting in relationship and learning and growing together as we unpack God's word. And we want to invite you once again to jump in and be a part of one of these small groups with us. In fact, I wanna make sure you know how to sign up and all of that. And so Joel and I are actually gonna get outta the way here for a second. And we're gonna hand this off now to communicators at each of our campuses who are gonna tell you some of the logistics of how to get signed up and all of that. And we'll be back up here in a minute. But right now, I wanna hand it off to all of you guys at the sites. And for us here in Chesterfield. Uh, Randall, I think you're gonna come up and just kinda help us with this. Would you? Yeah. Yeah. Great. You know, so our pastoral team for literally for the past two, three months have been talking about the fall. And we are so excited about where God's leading us. And like Tim just said, we would love for you to jump in, not just on the weekends. That's really, really important, but also this life on life. Uh, let's do this thing together as we open up God's word. So the best way to find one of these groups is the website. Go to the crossing.church/groups, and on there you'll see a couple different options. You can go to, uh, lead a group if you're interested in that. We'll walk you through the process of that. But also, then there's the button that says find a group, and that's where you find a group. Okay? So you click that button, you'll see all of the different options. Um, it's, it's everything from, you know, moms who are in a new season to dudes that meet in the valley and everything in between. Uh, so find a group that works for your schedule in and around the St. Louis area. There's some that meet here on site. And again, like Tim said, all just all throughout, even in on the Metro East and, and everything in between, find a group. Do this with somebody. Link arms with somebody, your with friends, family, coworkers and neighbors. Let's open up God's word together. Okay? And also on your app, uh, there's a button at the bottom that says connect. You can see all the other options there to connect, but also it'll lead you to the, the small groups page there as well. So it's another way you can find all of that information. Speaking of the app, we're going to use it, you know, we like to talk to each other and turn to each, uh, our near your neighbor and, and just kind of just keep talking about what we're talking about. We just read that big passages and Colossians. Okay, so what of those, which one of those virtues do you need more of in your life? And, and why? Okay? So fill out, uh, fill out the app and we'll kind of talk through some of those. But turn to your neighbor and, and talk about it. Which one of those virtues do you need more of in your life and why? All right, well, we're going to get back to some of the answers that you guys are putting in the app in just a minute. But I want to go back to something, Tim, that you were just talking about in this idea of, of community. And if I'm hearing you right, there's a certain, uh, unity within the community that Paul's really kind of Yeah. Kind of hitting at here, isn't there? And so, um, part of here's, here's the point. We are not the end point of God's grace. God's love doesn't end with you. Part of putting on this new self means that we need to learn how to love others well. And the truth about us, the truth about me, uh, sometimes I need help remembering my Christian duty really to love others. Well, I mean, um, there was a, this was years back, um, and there was a, there was a email that really just, it lit me up. I mean, I, it, it, I I get it. Um, it, it's, you know, it Wasn't, it wasn't anybody here that sent you that Email. It's no. So, yeah, don't worry. It was none of you. Yeah. Uh, none of you said, I, 'cause none of you would send that email, would you? Um, but for whatever reason, this email, and, and I understand frustrations, and I understand, you know, that sometimes people just get upset, but for whatever reason, this email let me up. And so I'm walking into the office and I don't have a good poker face. And so, uh, the, my friend can tell something's off. And so he really kind of had to calm me down. And that worked until lunchtime when I had another friend who could tell that something was still off. And she really kinda had to talk me off the ledge. And that worked for a couple hours until the afternoon where it was still just, ugh. And then a, another friend really had to, had to pastor me. Well, and I'll never forget this. I told him, this person wants to pick a fight, and honestly, I wanna let 'em and just put them in their place. Those were probably the words I used. Um, and, uh, and he looked at me, uh, and said, truthfully and gently, yes, but you don't get to do that. And I realized how right he was, I am a follower of, of Christ. I'm supposed to be like him. And what he says, love your neighbor as yourself. Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you. Love the Lord your God, with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind. Do you see how this works? I have been following Jesus for a long time. I know what God's word says. I know what's right and what's wrong. It's not because I forget, I know this. And yet, I still need to be reminded from God's word and from God's people. See, I can't live out God's word in isolation. I wasn't meant to. Yeah. And neither were you. This is part of what it is about living in this world, Right? Yes. Differently. So we need God's word to help us with this. We need people, but also, also we need God's grace. It's one of the ways that we get through these moments, right? Yeah. Because, because we don't do this because we're trying to earn God's grace or earn his favor, or make our way into heaven, or get God to love us or anything like that, we've already covered that, that Paul's writing to people who've already been raised with Christ. He's saying, you're already in this new life with him. That's done. Jesus did the work for you. But now, as a response to that, we wanna strive to live the life that he's calling us to. And when we make mistakes and we fall short, his grace is right there to pick us up, to keep us moving forward, to keep growing us up, shaping us and making us more like him. Yeah, that's right. And I would say along with that, you can't fake it. I mean, that's, I think that's another trap that we fall into, right? Fake it till you make it. But here's the deal. If you're faking something, it's because you don't believe it. You just want everybody else to think that you do. I have, uh, I have siblings, I have three siblings. And when I was growing up, some of you may have had similar experiences. It's time for family picture time, right? And so, what does mom always say? Can you all just at least act like you, like each other long enough to take this picture? And so you do. And then you hear the shutter snap, and that's when you whack 'em on the backside of the head. But the picture says that we all get along and we love each other. Reality might be something different. Uh, just full disclosure, I love my siblings. We get along. Everything is is great. But my point here is that we are not called to simply act like Jesus. We are called to be like Jesus. We are not called to simply act like we love each other. We are called to actually love one another. And I think that Paul really, he's kind of telling this and telling us this in his own way. The first part of that verse that we were looking at earlier, uh, verse 12, there's a Greek word in there that kind of plops itself in the middle that really kind of seems like it. It doesn't, it doesn't fit. It's the word sp non. And usually right here, I would have you turn to your neighbor and, uh, you know, practicing this really cool Greek word. But my wife works in the healthcare industry, and she assures me that there's a whole bunch of stuff going around now and spitting in each other's faces probably won't help. So let's not do that. But this word, it's kind of hard to determine, uh, what Paul actually means. And you'll see this if you look at the different translations of scripture. They're all trying their best to help us understand what Paul's saying here, but they do it a little bit differently. So the NIV translates this as yourselves. The new King James version translates this as tender. The New American standard Bible translates it as hearts, which might be kind of getting things a a little bit closer, but that's not the normal Greek word that you would use for heart. Nan is, is deeper, like actually physically deeper. In fact, I think the King James version of this gets a little bit closer to what the word is when it says bowels. Other places translate this as intestines or innards. This goes deep in the deepest part of your being. That's where you are to put on this new life in Christ. It's like when Jesus gets ahold of us, he, he's saying that we are moved deeply. And I, I think that, that, that word, that idea of the bowels, I mean, it's so descriptive, isn't it? I'm moved deep down in my gut. Yeah, it Just makes sense. But it, like, in a profound way, I'm moved in, in an emotional way for the people around me. And so we start living our lives out in response to that. Um, so, uh, real quickly, Joel, uh, just, this is some of what you guys were talking about in a minute ago. When you're looking at these virtues, I wanna just share what some of you guys said. Uh, one person in Fenton said, patience. I really lack patience. A person online said, uh, gentleness. Couple people said, gentleness. Um, I find myself being more angry, aggressive, sarcastic, harsh than I want to be, uh, here in Chesterfield. Somebody said, uh, kindness and patience. I need time to process things sometimes. Um, uh, one person said, uh, you know, uh, kindness, especially when my brother is being annoying and I wanna yell at him. Um, I Get it. But it's interesting when you guys list these virtues, like, do you, do you hear the tone in your all's responses? It's good to want these things, but all of us have this sense of frustration. Yeah, I need more of that. I really wish, Ooh, I really lack that. And we're falling back into that, that idol, idolatrous relationship we have with self-improvement. Yeah, I'm gonna work harder at this. That's difficult, but I'm gonna keep trying. It's so easy. I mean, that's kind of how we've been programmed is to fall into this type of thing. But I wanna help us maybe with a, a different way. And I think that this is really what Paul is getting at here. Uh, back in verse 10, when, when we looked at that, if we could put that up again, Paul is saying that this new self is being renewed in the image of Christ. And what he's doing is reaching way back to the beginning of the story when God said in Genesis one, let us make mankind in our image, in, in our likeness. And so he created man in his image, in the image of God, he created them, male and female, he created them. And some of you have heard this, and some of you know that this is the, this is the pinnacle of the creation story. Everything is leading up to this moment. When God creates humans in his image made to reflect who he is, that's what it means. So when Paul reaches back here to this part of the story, he is saying, you are to reflect this. I wish I had time to go through and show you all of those, um, all of those virtues, all of those things that you guys were talking about, whether it was compassion or patience or kindness or gentleness, forgiveness, humility, all of those things throughout scripture are words that are used to describe who Jesus is. So it's essentially, Paul is saying, it's Jesus put on Jesus. He is this, he is this new life. It is all about him. And now some of you are are thinking, well, okay, Joel, I'm tracking. I get it. It's Jesus. But I mean, that list is long. And there's a lot of things there that I need help with. Where do I even start? Will you start with the heart? When Jesus was asked what the most important commandment in all of scripture was, he said, love the Lord your God with what? All your heart, because in your heart lives what you worship. It does come back to worship. And we all worship someone or something. And what we worship makes its way deep down inside of us. In fact, one scholar, GK Beal says, we become what we worship. And if we are Christ followers, it's Jesus who lives in this deep place of, of worship. Do you want to be more compassionate? Don't just read the latest book on compassion, worship the one who is compassion, and you will begin to become more like Him. Yeah. Do You want to be more patient? Don't just pray for opportunities to be patient. Worship the one who is patience, and you'll begin to become more like him. Do you wanna learn how to forgive that person that deeply wounded you? Well, don't just try harder to forgive. Worship the one who forgave you, and you will begin to become more like him. This is what it means to put on Jesus to the this clothe ourselves in him. He is the new life. We give our every aspect of our lives over to him. Our heart now belongs to him and, and nothing else. Yeah. Joel, it's, you said it. It's worship. It's worship. Yeah. You start with worshiping him. And part of what I love about what you're saying there is that it takes us back to the very first point we made at the beginning of last week when we started this study on Colossians three. 'cause you remember Paul's writing to this church in Cosey, and he's trying to set the record some straight on some things that they're, they're, they're getting wrong there. And what's his point over and over and over and over again? Jesus. Jesus, Jesus is everything. Put him at the center of this all. He's the one who's the head of the church. He's the one who's over every power and authority in him. The fullness of the deity dwells. He's the image of the invisible God. Put your, put everything on Jesus. Put the focus on him, and everything else will fall into place. And now he's saying that when it comes to living out this new self, taking off the old self with all of its, all of its behaviors, and all of the things that led to shame and regret, and then putting on the new self. He's saying, you wrap yourself up in Jesus. You clothe yourself in him. And now he begins to transform you and you begin to live your life differently. And you start to reflect who he is to the world around you. Jesus is everything. Whatever you do in word or deed, do it in the name of Jesus. That's what Paul's saying. He's talking about worship here. You make Jesus the center of your life and you clothe yourself in him. And guys, that is what we are inviting you to do and to take steps deeper into in the months to come. As you come back for this series and for these conversations that we're going to be having as a church, we're gonna do this together. We're gonna live this out in groups and in community growing and learning and digging into God's word. But part of what I love about this is that at some point, we do this together, but it also has to be deeply personal. Yes, you've gotta make the decision that it's time to take the next step in this new life with him. And so wherever you are when it comes to your relationship with Jesus, you have to get to a place where you say, this season is just gonna be different for me because I'm gonna put Jesus on the throne of my life and I'm gonna focus on worshiping him. And it's just gonna be different. It might even be holy because I'm gonna chase after Jesus now with everything I've got, and I'm gonna try to get up on that cross with him and die to my old self so that I can experience new resurrected life in him. Those of you who are a part of this church, the crossing, and who are following Jesus, that it's time, once again, let's go. Let's keep loving each other and learning and growing together and building up this beautiful community that we call the church where people from all kinds of backgrounds and differences of opinions and, and, and, and, and education backgrounds and socioeconomic and skin color, and people who are broken and healing, young and old. We just all get to come together and we get to love one another in a way that is a light to the world around us. And we get to move into this community. Let's do this. For those of you who have yet to, you're like on the fence. You've yet to step into this life with Jesus. I'm just telling you at some point it has to come down to the word surrender. It's a place where you say, Jesus, I'm convinced. I trust you. I'm trusting you with everything. And now my life is in your hands. My heart is yours. Take it all. Take it and now do something with my life. But I wanna worship you. Now I wanna follow you. I want to to accept this extravagant, glorious gift of grace that you have offered me, so that now I get to do life with you, with grace, with peace, with joy, with hope, with new life. Amen. Amen. Amen. Wherever you are, I want to invite you. Now stand up because we are gonna worship our king Jesus together. Let's do this. Let's worship. Let your voices, and let's sing.