Hidden with Christ

Colossians 3:1-4 - "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

***Christianity is not just being free from sin...it is new life in the family of God

***v.1 - Believers have been raised with Christ
**Believers already belong to the world above
**Believers already have knowledge of things above
**Believers are under the rule of Christ

***v.2 - Believers are 'hidden with Christ'
**The world cannot see believers as they really exist
**The world cannot ultimately harm one hidden with Christ
**The world cannot understand the strength of one hidden with Christ

***What does it mean (for us here on earth today)?
**Do not devalue life on earth
**Do not be so heavenly focused that you are of no earthly good
**Do not be afraid to stand out

Philippians 3:12-14 - "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

1 John 3:2-3 - "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears,we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure."

***Christ will increase in our lives as we are hidden in Him...dead to self...alive to Christ

***Never allow anything in your life to distract people from seeing Christ