Pr 23: 4 Labor not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom. 5 Will you set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. 6 Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies, 7 for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.“Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. 8 You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten and waste your pleasant words. 9 Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words. 10 Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless, 11 for their Redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you. 12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge. 13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. 14 If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol. 19 Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way.

20 Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, 21 for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags. 22 Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old. 23 Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding. 29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? 30 Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. 31 Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. 32 In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. 33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things. 34 You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast. 35 “They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink

Message

Col 2: 6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. 8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. 11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. 16 So let no one judge you in food or in

drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. 18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. 20 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations 21 “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” 22 which all concern things which perish with the using according to the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. 3:1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

What does it mean to be “Alive Together with Christ?” 1. You continually walk by faith, Col 2:6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it (faith) with thanksgiving. How do you keep abounding faith? You have to like hanging out with Jesus.

2. You are free from bondage to legalism- trusting in strict adherence to Divine or manmade religious ordinances for salvation. Col 2:8 Beware lest anyone takes you captive through philosophy and vain deceit, according to the tradition of men…16 Therefore let no one judge you in food or in drink, or in respect of a feast, or of the new moon, or of the sabbaths. 20 If then you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as though Gal 3:3 O foolish Galatians who has bewitched you? Having begun in the Spirit, do you now perfect yourself in the flesh? living in the world, are you subject to its ordinances: 21 touch not, taste not, handle not; 22 which things are all for corruption in the using, according to the commands and doctrines of men?

3. You are free from Bondage to Sin Col 2:13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, Rom 6:17 But thanks be to our God that you were the slaves of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 Then being made free from sin, you became the slaves of righteousness. Rm 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

4. You set your heart on Spiritual things. Col 3:1 If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 2Co 4: 18 we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Conclusion How is your life with Jesus going this morning? Are you abounding with vibrant faith? Are your affections set on Heavenly things?

Col 2:6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. 8 Beware lest anyone rob you through philosophy and vain deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ. Eph 3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, Gal 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, do you now perfect yourself in the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain, if indeed it is even in vain? 5 Then He supplying the Spirit to you and working powerful works in you, is it by works of the law, or by hearing of faith? Gal 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Col 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,