Heavenly Inclined

I. EXORDIUM:

What are you prone to do? Heaven or earth

If unbelievers are prone to accidents, we are prone to heaven.

II. AUDIENCE PROFILE:

Believers

III. OBJECTIVES:

To show that we are need to be more inclined, proned or affected with heavenly things not on earthly things.

IV. TEXT:

Colossians 3:2 (Amplified Bible)

And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth.

V. THESIS:

Praise, worship and thank You very much, LORD JESUS, for You are the focus of my mind and nothing earthly. I am heavenly-proned.

VI. TITLE:

Heavenly inclined

VII. EXPLICATION:

A. Author: Apostle Paul

B. Date written: 60 - 64 A.D.

C. Purpose: to exhort and edify believers.

D. To whom written: Church in Colosse, a city of Asia Minor

E. Main Themes: CHRIST, Head of the Church

F. Key words: CHRIST the Head of all - Colossians 2:10

G. Key verses:

Colossians 2:9-10 (Amplified Bible)

2:9 For in Him the whole fullness of Deity (the Godhead) continues to dwell in bodily form [giving complete expression of the divine nature].

2:10 And you are in Him, made full and having come to fullness of life [in Christ you too are filled with the Godhead—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—and reach full spiritual stature]. And He is the Head of all rule and authority [of every angelic principality and power].

VIII. MAIN BODY:

A. Incline our minds on heavenly things

"And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things),"

Affection, prone, sentiments, inclination or "phroneo" in Greek means:

1. to have understanding, be wise

2. to feel, to think

3. to direct one’s mind to a thing, to seek, to strive for

Our minds, affection, love, prone, inclination should be focused on the following:

1. the LORD JESUS - Hebrews 12:2

Hebrews 12:2 (Amplified Bible)

12:2 Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

2. the GODhead or Trinity - FATHER, SON and HOLY SPIRIT - Mark 12:30

Mark 12:30 (Amplified Bible)

12:30 And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the first and principal commandment.

3. eternal treasures that are above - Colossians 3:1

Colossians 3:1 (Amplified Bible)

3:1 IF THEN you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, thus sharing His resurrection from the dead], aim at and seek the [rich, eternal treasures] that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

4. life and peace - Romans 8:4-6

Romans 8:4-6 (Amplified Bible)

8:4 So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit].

8:5 For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit.

8:6 Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].

5. love of the FATHER - 1 John 2:15-17

1 John 2:15-17 (Amplified Bible)

2:15 Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.

2:16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh [craving for sensual gratification] and the lust of the eyes [greedy longings of the mind] and the pride of life [assurance in one’s own resources or in the stability of earthly things]—these do not come from the Father but are from the world [itself].

2:17 And the world passes away and disappears, and with it the forbidden cravings (the passionate desires, the lust) of it; but he who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in his life abides (remains) forever.