Well Bereans, in a few days it will be 2026. It seems that the older I get the faster time seems to go by. It you have listened to me for a while, you probably know that my greatest desire in teaching is to get you to spend time in and come to love the Word of God. This is because I believe the only way that you can develop a relationship with the living God is through the Bible. So, every year at this time either, Jeff or I teach a message on the importance of reading the Bible.
So, let me start with the following question: How many of you would like your life to be characterized by peace, joy, and contentment? If you really want these things, I can tell you how to get them. Are you interested? Think about it for a moment. If you have peace, joy, and contentment, does anything else really matter? People work so hard for these things, because they are of great value.
Paul had all these things. His life was constantly characterized by peace, joy, and contentment. If you know anything about Paul, you know that he didn't have good circumstances in his life, but yet he was at peace. Why? The answer is found in his own words!
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21 ESV
Paul said that life to him was Christ. Paul lived only to serve Christ, commune with Christ, love Christ. He has no concept of life other than Christ. He is his reason for living. To Paul, Christ was life. Paul lived this out practically because he knew that it was true positionally.
When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:4 ESV
Paul says to believers, "Christ who is your life." He is the source of our life. Of course, this is true of physical life, but he is talking here about spiritual life—everlasting life. Because this is true, Christ should be the goal of our life, the purpose and fulfillment of our life. Is this something that you would say about yourself? Let's ask the question this way: What would the people who know you best say is your life? If we asked someone who knows you well to fill in the blank, what would he put?
For (put your name here) to live is _____________. Money? Prestige? Fame? Knowledge? Power? Work? Possessions? Leisure? Sports? Friends? Would those who know you best say that life to you was Christ? Why or why not?
When we can come to the point in our lives that we can say, "Christ is my life," then we'll also be able to say, "Life is good!" Believer, please remember this each time that you are unsatisfied with life—you are unsatisfied because something other than Christ is the focus of your life. Christ will never disappoint us!
Paul teaches in chapter 1 of Colossians who Christ is. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, and by Him were all things made, and all things are sustained by Him. He is the head of the body, the Church. And just as He is the firstborn over all creation, so also, He is the firstborn from the dead; therefore, Christ is supreme over all things.
In chapters 1-2, Paul also sets forth what Christ has done. He has reconciled them to the Father through His death so that they might be presented pure and blameless in Him. He has spiritually circumcised and baptized them, granting them new life and forgiveness of sins. He has blotted out the Old Covenant Law that was against them. He has utterly defeated all of the enemies which held them captive (e.g., sin, death, and the devil)…
Once he teaches them who Christ is and what He has done, and once he has taught them that as believers they share in all that Christ is and has done, Paul then tells them that they are no longer to live in the way they used to. The imperatives of the Christian life—the command to "seek those things which are above," for instance, are rooted in the new reality of who they are in Christ. Union with Christ is the heart and soul of Paul's Gospel. You can find it in every letter he writes. Since you have been united to Christ, live like it! Or to put it simply: Be who you are in Christ!
The first four verses of Colossians 3 are a hinge passage. They summarize the first two chapters of the letter which concern doctrine (the truths of the Christian faith). These truths then lead us into the second two chapters of the letter which deal with ethics (how to live the Christian life). Let's examine verse 1:
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1 ESV
The word "if" is a first-class condition in the Greek. It assumes reality. It can be translated by the word "since"—in view of the fact that you were raised with Christ…. That God has already raised them with Christ is an assumed fact. We see this in Ephesians 2.
even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Yeshua, Ephesians 2:5-6 ESV
It is a fact that God has raised us with Christ. It is something already done. There is no doubt in the "if" in the Greek here in Colossians 3:1.
Paul says they have been "Raised with Christ." The Greek word used here for "raised up with" is sunegeiro. The verb actually means "to be co-resurrected." We must understand that the "sun" prefix on the word sunegeiro shows not an exact likeness to the nature of Christ but an association with Christ's nature.
We also see this positional association in Romans 6 (co-buried, co-crucified, co-resurrected with Christ); Ephesians 2 (co-quickened, co-raised, co-seated in heaven with Christ); and Colossians 2 (co-buried, co-raised, co-quickened). These all utilize the "sun" or "co- prefix" and all demand a positional stance of the believer with the reality of Christ. Christ was buried, raised, quickened, and is seated in heaven. The believer is co-buried, co-raised, co-quickened, and co-seated in heaven. In Christ is the reality; in the believers is the association with that reality. Believers spiritually are entered into Christ's death and resurrection at the moment of their salvation. It is an accomplished fact.
God sees things differently than we do. God's viewpoint here is positional truth. God views us as already dead (2:20), buried (2:12), and raised in Christ. God sees better than we do, but He expects us to see what He has done in Christ with the eye of faith. This has nothing to do with our feelings. We cannot taste, feel, or smell positional truth. Our position in Christ is infallible, unalterable, eternal, and exalted. God said it, and by faith we believe it.
Since we have been raised up with Christ, we are commanded to "seek the things that are above." In order to obey this command, we need to understand two things: what the "things above" are and what it means to "seek" them?
What are the "things above"? The Greek word translated "above" is ano. It is only used 7 times in the New Testament. If we look at a couple of its uses, it gives us a good idea as to what "things above" are:
So the Jews said, "Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come'?" He said to them, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins." John 8:22-24 ESV
Here Yeshua says that the unbelieving Jews are from below, and that He is from above. The contrast here is between the natural and the spiritual. This is also seen in the use of ano in Galatians 4.
For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. Galatians 4:22-26 ESV
Here the contrast is between two covenants. One is fleshly (natural), and the other is spiritual. So "things above" are spiritual things as opposed to natural things.
In Colossians 2:18 Paul said that the false teacher was "inflated without cause by his fleshly mind." Their minds were centered on the flesh. But as believers, our minds are to be focused on "things above." "Things above" are spiritual things. We are to be seeking spiritual thing so that our focus is not on the physical.
In his book, What Americans Believe, George Barna states, "One of the most penetrating and inescapable questions that confronts Americans is: 'Why am I alive?'"
The answer he found was most surprising. "Most adults conclude that we exist to gratify the flesh. Sixty-three percent concur that the purpose in life is enjoyment and personal fulfillment." They are not seeking the "things above."
So, now that we understand that the "things above" are spiritual things, as opposed to the physical or fleshly, we need to ask: "What does it mean to 'seek' them?"
The word "seek" is an imperative or a command. This is the Greek word zeteo, and it is in the present tense, which indicates continuous action—"keep seeking the things above." We see this same word used in:
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33 ESV
The word, "seek," here is also the Greek word zeteo, which means "to seek, to desire to worship." It is a hungering, desiring, seeking; it is not laboring in a sweating way. It is a matter of a hungering, desiring, worshiping spirit; it is to seek with a desire to worship. So, we are to seek with a desire to worship the things which are above. We are to be hungering, desiring, and seeking the things above.
There's a very real sense in which the believer must be concerned with natural provision so that he continues to function properly. But the problem with being on the earth is that too often those things that we take for granted as being necessary elements of survival move to the center of our lives so that we give more time to their construction than we do to the advancement of the Kingdom of Heaven.
So, the believer is being exhorted to leave behind the concerns which he has over earthly matters and to fix his attention solely on the matters which are heavenly. Let me ask you this: Can we "keep seeking the things above" if we are not spending time in the Word of God? Since "things above" are spiritual things as opposed to natural things, how can we seek spiritual things apart from the Word of God? Where else do we find spiritual things other than in the Word of God?
Just to make sure we don't miss this, notice the next verse in Colossians 3.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Colossians 3:2 ESV
"Set your mind" is from phroneo and could simply be translated as "think." Once again, the present tense indicates continuous action—be continually setting your mind on the things above. Can we set our mind on things above if we are not in the Word of God?
Have you ever noticed how earthly minded we are? Most of the time our attention is centered on things right around us, and this shouldn't be surprising. After all, we are earth dwellers. We live on this earth at a certain time and in a certain place. We are physical beings in a physical world. It's natural for us to think about our jobs, our material possessions, our finances, our health, and the people who are important to us. We live in the dimensions of time and space, and we must function in this natural world by the physical principles that define it. But as Christians, we are called to be continually seeking spiritual things. We can only live properly in the physical realm when we are seeking spiritual things.
This is one of the fundamental problems with the current condition of Christianity. Even though we have been placed into a spiritual realm, we still see through natural eyes most of the time. We are either not taught (or we do not discover on our own) how to see into that spiritual realm and behold the power of God. So, many Christians live their entire lives without ever understanding who they are in Christ and what the provision is that Christ has made for them.
In the first two verses Paul says it twice: "Keep seeking the things above… Set your mind on the things above." In other words, we are to concentrate our attention on eternal realities. And you can only do this as you spend time in the Word of God.
Obviously, the spiritual thoughts that are to fill the believer's mind must come from Scripture. The Bible is the only reliable source of knowledge about the character of God and the values of heaven. The Bible is the mind of God reduced to writing. We have what we need for the Christian life in writing, and we have the Holy Spirit to help us understand it.
I have discovered this amazing secret of success: People who keep their priorities in order also keep their lives in order. People who have happy marriages are happily married because they have made their marriage a priority. People who are in good physical shape are that way because they have made their health a priority. If you keep your priorities in order, you can keep your life in order. Paul says, "Set your mind on the things above." This will only happen as we spend time with Yahweh in His Word.
If you really believed that this Book is Yahweh's Word to us, wouldn't you spend more time reading it? If you really believed that when the Bible speaks, Yahweh speaks, wouldn't you spend more time in it? Do you really believe the Bible is true? If you're not convinced, I can see how reading it would not be that important to you. How do we know that it is not just another book? There are many books today that claim to be the Word of God. The Koran, The Book of Mormon, and other religious works claim to be divinely inspired. So how do we know the Bible is true?
To me, the strongest evidence that the Bible is the Word of the Living God is its fulfilled prophecies. No other book in the world contains the kind of specific prophecies found throughout the pages of the Bible. There is no comparison, for example, between the Oracles of Nostradamus and the prophecies in the Tanakh about Yeshua the Christ. The prophecies of the Tanakh are often so obvious that many secular scholars have unsuccessfully attempted to assign later dates to some of these prophecies to make it appear that the prophecies were made up after the events. That's how stunning some of these prophesies are.
Let me give you an amazing example from the prophet Ezekiel. He made a number of predictions about the destruction of Tyre, a city that was a Phoenician stronghold. Tyre was a fairly significant city and large city on the west coast of Phoenicia which is now known as Palestine. And the word of Yahweh came to Ezekiel in verse 2 of chapter 26, telling about the destruction of the place.
"Son of man, because Tyre said concerning Jerusalem, ‘Aha, the gate of the peoples is broken; it has swung open to me. I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste,' Ezekiel 26:2 ESV
In other words, because Tyre mocked Jerusalem.
therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves. They shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers, and I will scrape her soil from her and make her a bare rock. She shall be in the midst of the sea a place for the spreading of nets, for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD. And she shall become plunder for the nations, Ezekiel 26:3-5 ESV
That is some pretty specific prophesy. But he goes on.
"For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will bring against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, and with horsemen and a host of many soldiers. He will kill with the sword your daughters on the mainland. He will set up a siege wall against you and throw up a mound against you, and raise a roof of shields against you. He will direct the shock of his battering rams against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers. His horses will be so many that their dust will cover you. Your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen and wagons and chariots, when he enters your gates as men enter a city that has been breached. With the hoofs of his horses he will trample all your streets. He will kill your people with the sword, and your mighty pillars will fall to the ground. They will plunder your riches and loot your merchandise. They will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses. Your stones and timber and soil they will cast into the midst of the waters. Ezekiel 26:7-12 ESV
Now that's pretty detailed, folks. I mean, that is not some kind of general prophecy. This is very specific. Tyre was a great Phoenician city. From the seventh century BC, it controlled Phoenicia. It had strong walls about 150 feet high and fifteen feet thick. And it was flourishing when Joshua led Israel into Canaan. Hiram I was its king. He helped David build the palace. And according to 1 Kings 5:10, he helped Solomon build the Temple.
Here's what actually happened, as verified by secular historians: In 590 BC, Ezekiel made his prediction. Four years later, in 586 BC, Nebuchadnezzar attacked the coastal city of Tyre. Nebuchadnezzar came and laid a 13-year siege on that city. It was a walled city. Unable to get breach the walls and enter, he prevented supplies from entering, eventually starving the people. It took him 13 years from 585 to 573. Because the people dying from starvation, the city finally surrendered. Nebuchadnezzar, very likely unfamiliar with Ezekiel's prophecies, broke down the walls and the towers, destroyed the city, did every single thing Ezekiel said he would do.
He got into the city but He didn't find the spoils he had planned to acquire. The people had used their fleet to transfer their valuables to an island a half-mile off the coast. This fulfilled Ezekiel's prediction that Nebuchadnezzar's army would receive no wages from Tyre. Nebuchadnezzar had no naval force to sail to the island.
"Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare, yet neither he nor his army got anything from Tyre to pay for the labor that he had performed against her. Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall carry off its wealth and despoil it and plunder it; and it shall be the wages for his army. Ezekiel 29:18-19 ESV
The island then became a new city that flourished for 250 years. But Nebuchadnezzar's assault on Tyre, the slaughtering of her people, and his failure to obtain the spoils only partially fulfilled the prophecy. The ruins and rubble of the city were still on the old site. After 250 years, a 24-year-old by the name of "Alexander the Great" showed up. He had 33,000 infantrymen, and 15,000 cavalry troops. He had just defeated the Persians, and he was on his way to Egypt. He needed supplies, so he came by the island city of Tyre and sent word: "I want you to supply all of my men and all of my horses and all of my army." And they said, "Forget about it. You don't have a navy, and we're on an island. We're not going to help you at all."
He didn't like that, of course. And everyone knew that it was not a good idea to get Alexander mad. Not deterred by Tyre's open rebellion, Alexander found a way to conquer the island city, thus fulfilling Ezekiel's prophecy that he would "destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers, and … scrape her soil from her and make her a bare rock." (Ezekiel 26:4 ESV).
What conqueror in his right mind would ever do that? Once the city was subdued, why did he waste his time throwing everything into the ocean? God brought it about to fulfill Ezekiel's prophecy. Alexander took all the debris and built a 2,000-foot long, 200- foot-wide causeway all the way to the island with all the debris.
Now the island had fortified itself as well with powerful walls that reached right down to the edge of the sea. And as Alexander got closer, he realized that he would need to get over them. According to the record, he built massive towers 165 feet high, and 20 stories high. They held artillery and a drop bridge. Alexander's army just pushed the towers out of the causeway and shot at the people from them. When they got to the wall, they simply dropped the bridges down and walked right in. In the process, of course, people were throwing things and shooting things off of the wall. They invented "tortoises" (big shells that they held over the workers who were building the causeway). It took Alexander seven months. He went in and murdered 8,000 people over a period of a few months, executed 7,000 more, and sold 30,000 into slavery, thus fulfilling every single detail of the prophecy.
While working on this message I asked ChatGPT this question: Did Alexander the Great use the rubble from the city of Tyre to build a Causeway out to the Island City and then capture it?
It responded, "Yes, Alexander the Great used rubble and timber from the old mainland city of Tyre to build a massive causeway (or "mole") across the shallow water to the island fortress, eventually allowing his army to breach its defenses after a seven-month siege in 332 BCE and capture the city. This engineering marvel, built using stone from the demolished mainland settlement and wood, utilized a natural sandbar, overcoming fierce Tyrian resistance, including fire ships and naval attacks, to connect the mainland to the island."
Ezekiel couldn't have guessed that those things would happen. The story of Tyre and others are evidence that the Bible is the Word of Yahweh. Fulfilled prophecies from the Tanakh concerning Yeshua of Nazareth also point to divine inspiration. The writing of the Tanakh was completed several hundred years before Christ's birth, so there is no way any of these predictions could have been written after Yeshua was born.
There are over 300 prophecies that were literally fulfilled in Yeshua of Nazareth. What are the chances that so many prophecies could all come true in the life of one man? Peter Stoner, in his book, Science Speaks, says, "… the probability that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled just eight of the prophecies is 1 in 10 to the 17th power. That's 1 with 17 zeros after it."
In order to comprehend this, imagine taking 10 silver dollars to the 17th power and laying them on the face of the state of Texas. They would cover the entire state two feet deep. Then mark one of the silver dollars and somehow stir the whole pile thoroughly all over the state. Put on a blindfold, travel as far as you wish, and on the first try, pick up the marked silver dollar. The chance of that happening is the same as the chance of eight messianic prophecies coincidentally coming true in any one man.
And remember, that's just for eight of the 300 that have been fulfilled. And that's why one researcher writes that "God designed fulfilled prophecy to be an open demonstration of the divine origin of the Scriptures." Since this book is the Word of the Living God to us, His children, shouldn't we be spending more time in it?
What is it that keeps you from spending time in the Word? Whatever it is, it is keeping your mind on the natural and not the spiritual. Is it the newspaper, television, movies, video games, sports, hobbies? What is it that keeps you from spending time with Yahweh your God?
Most Christians spend little, if any time, reading the Bible. Most people who call themselves Christians have never read through the entire book. I met a man who had been a pastor for over 40 years who told me he had never read through the entire Bible. The sad fact is many of us, even in the Church, are Biblically illiterate. A pastor of a large suburban mainline Protestant church did a survey on his congregation's knowledge of the Scriptures. Here is what he found: a third could not identify Calvary as the place of the crucifixion; 43% did not know the significance of Gethsemane; and 75% did not know the significance of Pentecost. He asked them, "How many people did Yeshua baptize?" The answers varied from zero to 5000. The number, of course, is zero. Only 58% in that mainline church could identify the four Gospels. Would we do any better?
Knowing how important it is, and that we ought to read the Bible, is no good unless we actually do so. As the New Year quickly approaches, I would ask you to commit yourself to regular reading of God's Word in 2026. Depending upon your reading speed, you should be able to read through the Bible in one year by reading about 15 minutes each day.
I challenge you every year to read your Bible. Some of you have accepted the challenge and have read through your Bibles. Some have taken my challenge much more seriously than others.
Robert writes:
I would always be offended if someone disrespected the Bible. I would always admit that I truly believed it was God's Word, but yet, I never read it through! I decided if I really believed it was God's Word, really believed that was true, I was going to make adjustments in my life and devote the time to actually read it. I don't believe it's a question of time for any of us; it's a question of value! How much do we value God's Word?
That is so true. If we valued spiritual things, we would be spending time in the Bible.
Robert went on to say:
I have never considered myself to be a good reader. I used to have trouble reading even three chapters without getting tired. I kept hearing Pastor Curtis' voice in my ear encouraging me to read through the Bible. He said reading through the Bible would change my life dramatically. He was right!
After starting at a super aggressive pace, Robert has slowed down his Bible reading to once a month. That is, he reads through his Bible every month, twelve times a year.
George Mueller, after having read the Bible through 100 times with increasing delight, made this statement:
I look upon it as a lost day when I have not had a good time over the Word of God. Friends often say, 'I have so much to do, so many people to see, I cannot find time for Scripture study…' Perhaps there are not many who have more to do than I. I've had annually about 30,000 letters, as a Pastor of a church with 1200 believers, besides, charge of five immense orphanages, the printing of millions of tracts, books, and Bibles, but I have always had a good season with God and His Word. The blessing I have received has been wonderful.
So, I ask you, all of you, isn't it time to stop making excuses and make a commitment to spend time in God's Word? As believers, we are to be seeking the things that are above; we are to be setting our minds on the things above. This will only happen as we spend time in the Word. It's time we stop playing church and spend some time getting to know our Father.
Wycliffe Bible Translators tells the following story: Thanh Nguyen, a dedicated officer in Vietnam, saw a woman reading a Bible. "Give us your Bible immediately, and renounce its teachings!" he ordered. The woman rose to make eye contact with Thanh, clutched the Bible to her breast, and offered no reply. Thanh decided to use force. Upon his order, his soldiers began to stab the woman with their riffles, bloodying her face. Still, she refused to surrender. They slapped her again and again, and smashed their fists into her head and stomach. Finally, the Bible fell from her limp, bloody hands, but only after she had died. Thanh picked up the Bible, wiping the dust and blood from its tattered cover. He could not understand why anyone would die for a book. As the officer in charge of the incident, Thanh kept the Bible, and he began to read it. He learned of the sacrifice of Christ from verses like the following:
When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 1 Peter 2:23-24 ESV
Through reading about the suffering Christ, Thanh began to understand why the woman would endure such a terrible beating. He prayed. "Jesus, now I know that you died for me! Please forgive me for hurting your people. From now on I will love and protect them." Thanh now teaches his fellow believers in Vietnam how to stand firm in the face of persecution. (Wycliffe Bible Translators)
In the most intimate of moments, the Bible is the book we turn to for comfort, healing, and hope because we believe its words are alive. No other book has that kind of effect on us because no other book is supernatural.