back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Morning Service 2.04.24
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- All right, good morning church family, happy Lord's Day. 00:08:37.060 |
when they have heard the words of your mouth. 00:09:33.060 |
♪ That the light of Christ might be seen today ♪ 00:09:40.060 |
♪ In our acts of love and our deeds of faith ♪ 00:10:38.060 |
♪ Cause our faith to rise, cause our eyes to see ♪ 00:11:00.060 |
♪ Let their truth prevail over all you kneel ♪ 00:11:21.060 |
♪ Help us grasp the heights of your plans for us ♪ 00:11:49.060 |
♪ And my faith will walk as you walk with us ♪ 00:11:57.060 |
♪ Speak, oh Lord, till your church is built ♪ 00:12:25.060 |
We have some events that are happening today. 00:12:34.060 |
And then there's also going to be a Sprouts PTA meeting 00:12:42.060 |
Men's Ministry Fellowship, the sign-ups are up. 00:12:45.060 |
On February 17th, it's going to be for all men of our church. 00:12:49.060 |
And Pastor Sung King is going to be coming to speak for that. 00:12:52.060 |
So please make sure to sign up for that in a timely manner. 00:12:56.060 |
But with that, this one's a little bit further ahead. 00:12:58.060 |
We'll have one of our sisters come up next week 00:13:11.060 |
After praise, we're going to be having our India team, 00:13:18.060 |
and will also be showing a video of what happened over there. 00:13:22.060 |
And so please make sure to find them and encourage them, 00:13:30.060 |
That's going to take place at the end of the service. 00:13:37.060 |
We are making that switch from Zell to Subsplash. 00:13:40.060 |
So please go into the app to do the giving there. 00:13:43.060 |
We still do have that physical offering basket in the back there 00:13:53.060 |
We pray, God, that our hearts would be fully engaged 00:14:00.060 |
Father, because you deserve all of our heart, 00:15:04.060 |
All right, let us stand together, and as we've been doing, 00:26:34.060 |
Hello Church family. Thank you for your prayers. 00:26:43.060 |
For those that don't know me, my name is Hubert 00:26:46.060 |
and I'm just going to share about my experience on this trip. 00:26:53.060 |
and when you go on family vacation, you choose a place you want to go to. 00:26:57.060 |
You want to see the sights, you choose the sights you want to see, 00:27:04.060 |
But on this mission trip, my prayer was that God would show me 00:27:07.060 |
what he wanted to show me, that I'll experience what he wanted to show. 00:27:11.060 |
And God answered my prayers, but it wasn't in a way that I expected. 00:27:19.060 |
So I thought, you know, maybe it's in serving the people 00:27:26.060 |
that God would speak to me or show me something. 00:27:30.060 |
But it really was not expected, but it came through God's word. 00:27:41.060 |
we would go through a chapter of Philippians in the morning, 00:27:47.060 |
And I just wanted to show you what God spoke to me through. 00:28:00.060 |
To write the same things again is no trouble to me, 00:28:17.060 |
And one of the main concerns he had in writing this letter 00:28:20.060 |
to the church in Philippi was that there were two believers 00:28:27.060 |
And so that was one of the main reasons why he wrote this letter. 00:28:38.060 |
And I was puzzled, like, how would rejoicing in the Lord, 00:28:46.060 |
And I was thinking about what are the things that I rejoice about? 00:28:51.060 |
You graduate and you rejoice, get a job, get a raise, promotion, 00:28:58.060 |
Am I connected to some circumstance or some event? 00:29:08.060 |
And I thought, I thought about God, and I meditated upon God. 00:29:12.060 |
Here we have the Creator God, the Most High God, 00:29:23.060 |
You know, coming to this earth, not just dying for our sins, 00:29:41.060 |
And the only thing I could think of comparing it to is, like, 00:29:48.060 |
I think it reached the maximum of, like, a little bit over $2 billion. 00:29:58.060 |
What we have in Jesus Christ is much, much greater than that. 00:30:10.060 |
If we have this joy in the Lord, then can you be angry? 00:30:30.060 |
In chapter 4, verse 4, it states, "Rejoice in the Lord always. 00:30:43.060 |
If you rejoice always, ultimately, what is rejoicing in the Lord? 00:30:57.060 |
And if you are worshiping the Lord always, that's going to change you. 00:31:10.060 |
So if you ask me, "What is the one thing I wanted to take away from this mission trip?" 00:31:15.060 |
You know, as I reflect back on the 47 years of life, 00:31:19.060 |
I can say that I didn't do this enough, rejoicing in the Lord. 00:31:26.060 |
So when I think back, you know, what I want to take from this trip, 00:31:29.060 |
it's not, "Oh, I need to read the Bible more," or "I need to pray more," 00:31:36.060 |
Because it's true, those things I do need to do more. 00:31:39.060 |
And there's some guilt within me, like, "Oh, I should be doing these things." 00:31:45.060 |
I think the one thing I want to take away is to rejoice in the Lord. 00:31:54.060 |
I'm tired, you know, I'm tired of doing things for the sake of doing things. 00:31:59.060 |
And in my heart, I just want there to be peace, knowing that I'm worshiping God. 00:32:07.060 |
So as I conclude my sharing today, I just want to thank you for your prayers. 00:32:14.060 |
The pastors there, they are really doing the work. 00:32:21.060 |
We ask the pastors, "You know what happens if you get persecuted?" 00:32:26.060 |
And my thought's like, "Oh, you know, you go to the next village or they close the door." 00:32:33.060 |
And so just pray that God would give them the strength, endurance, and the joy to follow. 00:32:56.060 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you for that testimony, for the images that we saw. 00:33:02.060 |
Father, for all the things that you're doing, both seen and unseen, that we can trust in a God like you. 00:33:10.060 |
And Lord, I pray that just as we shared, that our joy would be derived off of who you are and what you're doing. 00:33:19.060 |
Lord, that we would not be separate from you and your will, but we'd be melded and merged into one. 00:33:25.060 |
Father, we know that as the team leaves, that the work continues. 00:33:29.060 |
As the team arrives back here, we know there's so much to be done. 00:33:33.060 |
So Lord, we pray, God, that we would be a church that continues to grow in that direction. 00:33:38.060 |
Thank you, God, for the encouragement that was given to this team. 00:33:41.060 |
We pray that fruit would be born as they share and that we would be challenged, God, to remember why it is that we're here. 00:33:52.060 |
Colossians 1, verse 15, if you would turn there with me. 00:34:07.060 |
Colossians 1, verse 15, it says, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 00:34:14.060 |
For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, 00:34:19.060 |
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. 00:34:22.060 |
All things have been created through him and for him. 00:34:25.060 |
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 00:34:28.060 |
He is also head of the body, the church, and he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, 00:34:33.060 |
so that he himself will come to have first place in everything. 00:34:36.060 |
For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him, 00:34:40.060 |
and through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross. 00:34:45.060 |
Through him I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven." 00:34:50.060 |
Now, when the other pastors come and preach, we're not really kind of going through the word, 00:35:00.060 |
like in terms of kind of systematically going through Luke or something like that. 00:35:04.060 |
And so we have to sit down and think of a topic that's somewhat pertinent. 00:35:08.060 |
And the reason why today's passage stuck out to me is, maybe it's a little bit self-centered, 00:35:14.060 |
but it's because our college ministry, we're going on evangelizing. 00:35:18.060 |
And with that, what we've noticed, especially as we have students going out and coming back and reporting, 00:35:25.060 |
and we're just kind of talking and having conversations, is that the cults are just alive and active. 00:35:35.060 |
And it's startling how much more proactive they are than many of us might be. 00:35:43.060 |
Perhaps it's because it's built into their system or whatever reason it is, but it's there. 00:35:53.060 |
We have people who believe in baptismal regeneration, 00:35:56.060 |
that you actually need to do the work of baptism in order to be saved. 00:36:00.060 |
Some of these churches or cults would say that you have to be baptized in their church and no other church, 00:36:10.060 |
Some of them would say that you have to go and baptize people or else you're not a Christian. 00:36:18.060 |
And many of us might have run into other people. 00:36:21.060 |
You're walking around Irvine Spectrum and people tell you about someone named God the Mother. 00:36:26.060 |
You might have people from the local church movement. 00:36:30.060 |
You have people knocking on your doors, the Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses. 00:36:34.060 |
And so there's a lot of this kind of activity. 00:36:37.060 |
And in every heresy and in every cult, what you're going to see that they are going to attack either who Jesus is 00:36:44.060 |
or the work that he accomplished or the work that he alone can do. 00:36:53.060 |
And even with their India team coming back, it's not just unique to here. 00:36:58.060 |
I remember being in India years ago and I was inside one of the huts and they had a poster. 00:37:04.060 |
They had a poster in the middle of their hut and it had all their God, the deities that they worshipped. 00:37:09.060 |
And right in the middle was a picture of Jesus, Jesus Christ. 00:37:13.060 |
I pointed at them like, "Oh, I know that one." 00:37:20.060 |
And that just gets you to thinking that just believing in the existence of Jesus, 00:37:27.060 |
even believing in whatever it means that he died for the sins of the world, 00:37:38.060 |
then we cannot translate it into the work that he alone was able to accomplish. 00:37:43.060 |
If we believe in any other Christ, even if that Christ bears a similar name, 00:37:55.060 |
So Christ being the only way, Christ being vital, 00:38:00.060 |
and knowing why he is the only way is important to every Christian. 00:38:09.060 |
Christ is the middle point of every believer. 00:38:13.060 |
Christ is what makes Christianity different than any other religion based loosely on this idea of God. 00:38:20.060 |
Some greater figure who is sovereignly working things out in this world. 00:38:28.060 |
just because we can say that we hold to orthodoxy, 00:38:31.060 |
does not mean that here in this room, that our church even, would be Christ-centered. 00:38:39.060 |
There has to be a fight for this, that Christ would be the middle. 00:38:48.060 |
We have to know why it is that we say that we don't just love God, but we love Christ. 00:38:57.060 |
"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. 00:39:07.060 |
There is no side door, there is no back door, there is no popping through the ceiling. 00:39:11.060 |
There is no way to eternal life except through Jesus. 00:39:15.060 |
And you have to know who he is, and you have to know what he's done, 00:39:22.060 |
John 5, verse 38, shows a picture of these Pharisees. 00:39:30.060 |
And he says, "For you do not believe him whom he sent." 00:39:39.060 |
"You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. 00:39:45.060 |
And you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life." 00:39:48.060 |
These were the Pharisees who were searching the right scriptures. 00:39:52.060 |
These were the Pharisees who understood that the Messiah was coming. 00:39:56.060 |
And yet they refused to place their faith in Jesus. 00:39:59.060 |
They refused to believe in who he was, that he was the son of God. 00:40:02.060 |
And so they refused the work that he alone was able to accomplish. 00:40:08.060 |
And so they are not closer to salvation than any else. 00:40:13.060 |
Just being born into the right place with the right theoretical building blocks is not enough. 00:40:22.060 |
And thus, the first believers were labeled Christians. 00:40:26.060 |
It was an insulting kind of phrase or a moniker given to the believers 00:40:35.060 |
And so they called them first Christians in Acts 11. 00:40:37.060 |
And there's an appropriateness to this insult because a Christian is, in fact, Christ-obsessed. 00:40:43.060 |
And so today we'll look at what makes Christ so worthy to us, 00:40:47.060 |
so magnificent and majestic, so central to us as believers, so full of value and worth. 00:40:56.060 |
Why was he the only one able to open the scroll? 00:40:59.060 |
Why is he the one before whom all knees will bow and every tongue will confess? 00:41:11.060 |
The theme of the book of Colossians is that Christ is Lord. 00:41:14.060 |
He wields authority and power over all creation. 00:41:17.060 |
And in Christ alone, there is redemption and eternal life. 00:41:22.060 |
And so in this passage, what we see is that he is then the only one who is able to reconcile humanity. 00:41:34.060 |
And we'll be looking at Colossians 1:15-18 to see Christ's worth. 00:41:40.060 |
Now when we think of value, when we think of worth, it matters. 00:41:47.060 |
We don't just like flatten everything and say everybody's just worth the same 00:41:53.060 |
just because we're made equal in the image of God. 00:41:56.060 |
And let me explain that before you run too far with that concept. 00:42:01.060 |
We value people based on what they are actually able to accomplish. 00:42:05.060 |
We value people based upon their skills and giftedness. 00:42:10.060 |
You're watching that video and at the end it just kind of gave glimpses, right? 00:42:14.060 |
This is the medical team, and this is the VBS team, and this is the eye care team. 00:42:18.060 |
Now switch any of those individuals around and this is a disaster. 00:42:23.060 |
You get some of those VBS people who have no understanding of the medical field 00:42:28.060 |
and you stick them onto the medical team and they're sitting there seeing person after person. 00:42:33.060 |
Their value is based on something else, right? 00:42:40.060 |
If you ask someone to take a photo, you're going to ask somebody that is able to do that work, 00:42:46.060 |
You're not going to ask that person who's terrible at taking photos. 00:42:53.060 |
If you're going camping, you're not going to go with the person who is afraid to go glamping. 00:43:00.060 |
You're not going to go with that person who doesn't understand how to survive. 00:43:03.060 |
You're going to go with that person you think is crazy. 00:43:06.060 |
You're going to go with that person who has every piece of gear. 00:43:09.060 |
You know that one that believes in the zombie apocalypse is coming one day. 00:43:13.060 |
You're going to look for them when something bad happens. 00:43:19.060 |
If you're in a grocery store, you're not going to come to me to get to something at the top. 00:43:26.060 |
You're going to find somebody who's tall enough. 00:43:33.060 |
I'm not saying that we're not equal as image bearers of God, 00:43:36.060 |
but when it comes to accomplishing a task, we understand value. 00:43:42.060 |
If the work that needs to be done, if what needs to be accomplished is redemption of mankind, 00:43:50.060 |
if redemption is what we're looking at, then Christ alone holds the value needed to satisfy this work. 00:44:01.060 |
He alone is worthy to be able to accomplish such a thing. 00:44:10.060 |
The only one of the category, the word "holy" is appropriate to give to Jesus Christ. 00:44:18.060 |
There is no one like Him. There's no one else that can accomplish what He can accomplish. 00:44:22.060 |
This is the Son of God, Jesus Christ, uniquely able as God Himself. 00:44:36.060 |
In fact, in this passage, in verse 15, if you look there, it says that Christ is God. 00:44:42.060 |
I mean, we just, we go like, "Yeah, that's what we believe." 00:44:52.060 |
And it says, almost so casually, "He is the image of the invisible God." 00:45:00.060 |
Think of how mind-blowing a thought it is that in just a little phrase, 00:45:05.060 |
it tells you something impossible to comprehend. 00:45:08.060 |
That Christ is the image of the invisible God. 00:45:18.060 |
That word "image" is infused in this word "imagine." 00:45:30.060 |
For those of you with more logical minds, I mean, what is it that you think of? 00:45:36.060 |
For those of us disconnected with our feelings, that we can't just like, "That's God." 00:45:53.060 |
When sin entered into the world, humanity is immediately separated from God. 00:46:01.060 |
because anyone who would look upon God in a sinful state would die. 00:46:05.060 |
Anyone found in His presence would be blasted into eternal oblivion. 00:46:13.060 |
To live, you need to have Him because He is the source of life. 00:46:16.060 |
He is the sustainer of life, which leaves humanity in an impossible dilemma. 00:46:21.060 |
There's a chasm that is impossible to overcome, 00:46:24.060 |
a chasm impossible to traverse between me and God. 00:46:32.060 |
Whatever it meant that God walked in the garden with Adam and Eve, that's God. 00:46:41.060 |
But God, in His incredible plan of redemption, 00:46:45.060 |
in Colossians 1 and 15, so simply states that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. 00:46:57.060 |
What was made impossible that we could not draw near to, 00:47:00.060 |
we could not set eyes upon the only giver of life, that He images before us. 00:47:10.060 |
He reaches out and does what is impossible in His plan of redemption. 00:47:24.060 |
And in that state, Jesus Christ comes into the world as a man, 00:47:28.060 |
like you and me, and all of a sudden, just as clearly as you can see me, 00:47:34.060 |
the world set their eyes upon the image of the invisible God. 00:47:44.060 |
To a God far off and invisible, He is the one that condescends. 00:47:49.060 |
John 14.8, Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father." 00:47:56.060 |
Why is he saying that? Because he can't see Him. 00:48:02.060 |
Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know me, Philip? 00:48:12.060 |
Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me?" 00:48:28.060 |
Because He is the name of the--He is why we live. 00:48:32.060 |
2 Corinthians 4.4 says, "In whose case, the God of this world, what has He done? 00:48:37.060 |
He has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that they might not see the light of the gospel, 00:48:44.060 |
of the glory of not just God, but of Christ." 00:48:49.060 |
The glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 00:48:53.060 |
And so Christ comes into the world, and they are able to set their eyes upon this man, 00:49:01.060 |
Jesus Christ is the image of an invisible God. 00:49:05.060 |
Hebrews 1.3 says, "And He," Jesus, "is the radiance of His glory, 00:49:09.060 |
and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power." 00:49:17.060 |
It says, in verse 19 to go on later, "All the fullness of deity dwells in Christ." 00:49:29.060 |
That's intrinsic to worship in us, because of who He is. 00:49:32.060 |
But not only that, but the passage goes on to say that He is the firstborn of all creation. 00:49:38.060 |
Jesus Christ is the firstborn of all creation. 00:49:44.060 |
Well, the word itself must be understood the way it was originally understood and written. 00:49:48.060 |
During biblical times, we read about this thing called the birthright. 00:49:52.060 |
Perhaps the first things that come to mind are things like Jacob and Esau, 00:49:55.060 |
and this birthright that Esau kind of rejected, and so what happened to that birthright? 00:50:03.060 |
So that seat, that inheritance, that family line, 00:50:08.060 |
would ultimately pass through this thing called the firstborn. 00:50:11.060 |
And there are these interesting stories in Scripture where the birthright then passed on to another. 00:50:15.060 |
You have weird stories of twins in the womb, and they're trying to figure out who comes out first, 00:50:19.060 |
and an arm comes out, and they tie a ribbon to it just in case the arm goes back in, 00:50:27.060 |
And you see the importance of this idea of the firstborn. 00:50:31.060 |
The firstborn was given the rights and the responsibilities that came with it. 00:50:34.060 |
It was not always literally the first one born. 00:50:40.060 |
It was talking of status, of position, of rank. 00:50:46.060 |
Great privilege came with being the firstborn. 00:50:49.060 |
He held the inheritance of the history of the family. 00:50:57.060 |
It says that Jesus was the only begotten son. 00:51:02.060 |
Now we think of that begotten again like born as we relate to this idea of human birth. 00:51:07.060 |
We're not allowed to do that because in John 3.16, that word begotten is closer fit to this word ultimate or unique. 00:51:15.060 |
That's why some translations will say one and only son. 00:51:21.060 |
The only begotten son is closer to Jesus being the one, the supreme, 00:51:28.060 |
the one holding rank, and status, and authority, and kingship of the world. 00:51:37.060 |
It's not speaking to him being created by any stretch of the imagination. 00:51:41.060 |
There's some passages not up here, but if you listen, in John 8.38, that's what Jesus says before Abraham was. 00:51:57.060 |
Hebrews 13.8 says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever." 00:52:02.060 |
Revelation 22.12 says, "Behold, I'm coming quickly, and my reward is with me to render to every man according to what he has done." 00:52:09.060 |
And he says this, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." 00:52:16.060 |
So Jesus Christ being the firstborn of creation is pointing to the fact that there's none like him. 00:52:20.060 |
He is unique, he is holy, and he is essence, God himself. 00:52:25.060 |
Philippians 2.5 then says, "Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, 00:52:31.060 |
who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 00:52:37.060 |
but emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men." 00:52:44.060 |
Jesus is God, Jesus is firstborn, this is his worth, this is his value. 00:52:50.060 |
But not only that, if we go to the next slide, letter B, Jesus Christ is the center of creation. 00:52:59.060 |
It says in verse 16, "For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, 00:53:04.060 |
visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. 00:53:07.060 |
All things have been created through him and for him. 00:53:09.060 |
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." 00:53:14.060 |
All things were created by him, and look at verse 16, "All things were created by him." 00:53:20.060 |
It says by him, through him, too, all of these words matter. 00:53:33.060 |
Jesus is not only just God, we kind of think loosely about this, but he is the creator. 00:53:42.060 |
As he is the center of creation, everything revolves around him. 00:53:51.060 |
Every star, every galaxy, every planet, every tree, every rock, every animal, every human, 00:54:04.060 |
In Genesis 1, it says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." 00:54:12.060 |
In fact, in God's creative work, he uses words to create. 00:54:17.060 |
In Genesis 1, there is no millions and billions of years that need to go by, 00:54:23.060 |
and God kind of carefully orchestrating things just as he created. 00:54:27.060 |
With his words, there was nothing he had to develop. 00:54:34.060 |
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 00:54:41.060 |
In John 1, when it says, "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, 00:54:48.060 |
and the word was God," he's speaking to that. 00:54:52.060 |
"And the word became flesh and dwelt among us." 00:54:57.060 |
He is the word of God itself in the creative work. 00:55:01.060 |
God and his word so intricately tied together, bound and inseparable, 00:55:07.060 |
But it also says all things were created through him and for him. 00:55:13.060 |
That means that he is not only the source, but he is also the sustainer 00:55:21.060 |
Life is not simply created and then allowed to proliferate 00:55:24.060 |
without involvement from the one who created it. 00:55:29.060 |
Life must be sustained moment by moment, heartbeat by heartbeat, 00:55:33.060 |
intricately to every minute detail being upheld and suspended by Jesus Christ. 00:55:42.060 |
Over 300,000 people are born every single day, 00:55:46.060 |
and every life dependent upon the sustaining power and work of Jesus himself. 00:55:56.060 |
For every believer, but also for every rebellious unbeliever 00:55:59.060 |
who refuses to bow the knee to Christ, little do they know that the only way 00:56:04.060 |
that they are able to even open their lips to mock the very creator 00:56:13.060 |
He is the one maintaining, sustaining the words, 00:56:17.060 |
the life of those who refuse to acknowledge that he is God. 00:56:27.060 |
Jesus Christ is also at the center of the church. 00:56:35.060 |
In verse 18 it says, "He is also head of the body, the church, 00:56:39.060 |
and he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, 00:56:41.060 |
and he himself will come to our first place in everything." 00:56:51.060 |
I think we have no problem saying that Jesus Christ is the center of the church. 00:57:06.060 |
It necessitates an understanding that every believer knows 00:57:11.060 |
so that when we come together we're able to say with clear conscience 00:57:14.060 |
that Jesus Christ is the center of this church. 00:57:16.060 |
It's not something we're allowed to just kind of talk about 00:57:21.060 |
because by our lives it shows that we do not believe. 00:57:23.060 |
Jesus Christ, is he the center of our church? 00:57:41.060 |
Do we have the mind of Christ here, or are we fragmented? 00:57:45.060 |
All trying to live our own lives with our own minds, 00:57:57.060 |
and then we come together and we have the gall to say 00:58:06.060 |
If Jesus is the head of the body, he came to seek and save the lost, 00:58:13.060 |
If Jesus Christ's purpose into condescending, 00:58:18.060 |
if his purpose was to communicate and to save and to redeem a people 00:58:24.060 |
who had no way of salvation, then is that our purpose? 00:58:27.060 |
This is what it means when it says that he is the center of the church. 00:58:33.060 |
It goes on to say, though, that he is the beginning and the firstborn from the dead. 00:58:38.060 |
Being firstborn from the dead is different than what we saw just before, 00:58:44.060 |
Firstborn from the dead means that he is the first to rise from the dead, 00:58:49.060 |
because there was no ability for any to rise from the dead 00:58:57.060 |
Because through him and in him, many will come to rise from the dead. 00:59:01.060 |
Through Jesus, the firstborn of all Christians, of all believers, of all those of faith, 00:59:07.060 |
he is the example, the footsteps that we are called to follow, 00:59:10.060 |
the very image that we are as Christians, being conformed to. 00:59:16.060 |
He is the plumb line. He is the one that sets the thing. 00:59:23.060 |
Acts 26.23 says that the Christ was to suffer, 00:59:26.060 |
and that by reason of his resurrection from the dead, 00:59:29.060 |
he would be the first to proclaim light both to Jewish people and to the Gentiles. 00:59:34.060 |
Jesus Christ is the center of the church. He was the first to rise from amongst us. 00:59:40.060 |
The passage also says that he is first place, that we recognize he is first place in everything. 00:59:45.060 |
This is already a part of who he is, which brings us to our second point. 00:59:51.060 |
That's who Jesus was, and now that is why he alone is able to accomplish. 00:59:55.060 |
That is why there is no cult. There is no Roman Catholic. 00:59:59.060 |
There is no one that does not believe in the saving value and the work of Jesus Christ, 01:00:05.060 |
and Jesus Christ alone that can be saved, because there is no other way. 01:00:09.060 |
There is no other Christ. There is no other loophole. 01:00:11.060 |
There is no other door that can be used to get there. 01:00:14.060 |
And so as we look at Christ's work, we look at Colossians 1.19-20, 01:00:18.060 |
where it says, "For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Christ, 01:00:23.060 |
and through him to reconcile all things to himself." 01:00:26.060 |
That means if no Christ is there, there is no through, there is no reconciliation. 01:00:31.060 |
That through Jesus to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of Christ. 01:00:37.060 |
The Father did not shed his blood. The Son shed his blood. 01:00:40.060 |
The blood of his cross through him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. 01:00:44.060 |
And so stated as before, Christ's worth precedes his work. 01:00:48.060 |
He is not just important in the redemption story, he is the redemption story. 01:00:53.060 |
He is all we have. Without him there is nothing. 01:00:57.060 |
I believe there is no ability to love God unless Christ comes, 01:01:05.060 |
and we set our eyes upon him, and we can see, and we love Christ. 01:01:11.060 |
In this time of Colossae lies were infiltrating the church, 01:01:15.060 |
syncretistic false teachers slowly poisoning the church of Colossae. 01:01:20.060 |
And they thought that they needed amulets, and angels, and chants, 01:01:23.060 |
and all these different special stones to have authority over forces of evil. 01:01:31.060 |
If Christ indeed had the power, they were willing to even bow the knee. 01:01:41.060 |
Maybe he was just even a little further ahead of others. 01:01:46.060 |
They would think you need these other powers to fill all the gaps in between us and God. 01:01:50.060 |
They become like the filler things to complete God. 01:01:58.060 |
All of God is not filtered out to these many different things. 01:02:07.060 |
When Jesus came into the world, that was God stepping into creation, 01:02:24.060 |
The way Pastor Peter always talks about it, there is no sprinkling of Jesus. 01:02:29.060 |
There is no work that we can do to earn our salvation. 01:02:35.060 |
There is no hopeful or wishful thinking outside of Jesus that we can hang our hat on. 01:02:40.060 |
It's so easy to be lackluster, saying things like that, that Jesus is the center. 01:02:54.060 |
Jesus Christ is the worthy one, the supreme one, the unique and set apart one. 01:03:08.060 |
Jesus is the only one that checks off all of these things. 01:03:11.060 |
That's why when He says that He is the way and the truth and the life, 01:03:15.060 |
we hold claim to the most exclusive claim in all of the world. 01:03:20.060 |
That Jesus is the only way and there is nothing that you can do about it. 01:03:27.060 |
Nothing that I could have done to wash myself clean. 01:03:35.060 |
Acts 4.12 then says, "And there is salvation in no one else, 01:03:38.060 |
for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." 01:03:44.060 |
John 3.16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, 01:03:50.060 |
that whoever believes in Jesus and only in Jesus, 01:03:54.060 |
that there needs to be faith in Jesus, surrender to Jesus, 01:03:57.060 |
that only when that happens you will not perish and you will have eternal life. 01:04:02.060 |
No other way, only through this begotten Son, this unique set apart Son." 01:04:12.060 |
Right after our passage today in Colossians 1.21 it says, 01:04:16.060 |
"And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, 01:04:21.060 |
yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death 01:04:25.060 |
in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach." 01:04:30.060 |
You cannot approach God, you cannot see God if you are unholy, 01:04:34.060 |
if you are sinful in any kind of way, if you have the smallest of flaw, 01:04:38.060 |
if you have the smallest of what you perceive to be just a small sin, it's already too late. 01:04:46.060 |
I'm going to just move on because we don't have time. 01:04:49.060 |
And so, this passage is simply trying to show you the preeminence is the word used, 01:05:01.060 |
This passage is just trying to show you why He's the center. 01:05:05.060 |
Why it is that we don't just proclaim God generically. 01:05:15.060 |
Jesus is the center for the Christian because He was the one. 01:05:30.060 |
There is nothing we are doing here in this world apart from Christ that ultimately matters. 01:05:36.060 |
God accomplished the impossible in order to save us. 01:05:40.060 |
Christ's worth made way for the work only Christ could accomplish and so we are Christ-centered. 01:05:51.060 |
And so we not only love Him but we point to Him and we preach of Him 01:05:55.060 |
and we know that He is the only way for anyone in this world to come to Him. 01:06:01.060 |
We have to remember that the world cannot save themselves. 01:06:04.060 |
We have to remember that just by hoping that we are just by leading good lives 01:06:09.060 |
that perhaps it will be like, "Oh, I think that person is a follower of Jesus." 01:06:12.060 |
And so they have some theoretical, some ethereal understanding of whatever that means 01:06:19.060 |
and they hope that just by that they can become a Christian too. 01:06:24.060 |
We can't rely on the fact that perhaps there is some loophole, 01:06:27.060 |
that perhaps God will allow an individual to come into heaven if they are good enough. 01:06:34.060 |
Every human is alienated, hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, sinful to the core. 01:06:41.060 |
We have no good in us, no ability to save ourselves. 01:06:57.060 |
See, in Christ we are brought into holiness and blamelessness before God. 01:07:02.060 |
We are made holy and sanctified, pure and clean. 01:07:11.060 |
None of that will count against you if you have faith in Christ. 01:07:18.060 |
All of the things that you feel guilty about, covered completely by the blood of Christ. 01:07:27.060 |
I would want to stick my head in the ground itself if people could but see 01:07:31.060 |
some of the things that I've thought, some of the sins I've committed, 01:07:34.060 |
the incredible hostility that I have had towards God. 01:07:47.060 |
That's why in Colossians 1, Paul goes on to say that we are to present every man complete in Christ. 01:07:52.060 |
In Colossians 3, he says, "Set your eyes upon him and do not tear your eyes away from Christ." 01:07:58.060 |
"Put your faith in Christ" is the name of the game for the Christian. 01:08:05.060 |
Put your faith in Christ who is of ultimate worth. 01:08:19.060 |
Eternal life is found in Jesus and only in Jesus. 01:08:23.060 |
And the end result will be a life filled with Jesus at the center. 01:08:40.060 |
Heavenly Father, we pray, God, that we would love Christ with all of our hearts. 01:08:50.060 |
And even as we participate in the Lord's Supper, as we participate in communion, 01:08:56.060 |
God, that we see why it is so important to participate into Christ. 01:09:02.060 |
And I pray, God, that we would be bold proclaimers of Christ. 01:09:12.060 |
And Father, would you help us, Lord, to not bear a resemblance to any other. 01:09:20.060 |
To the things of creation, to the things that we see around us, to the culture, 01:09:26.060 |
to the things that the world says must be done. 01:09:30.060 |
A world that has been put under the spirit of the age that blinds. 01:09:37.060 |
That we are a people who have set our eyes upon the image of God, Christ himself. 01:09:42.060 |
So Lord, thank you. And would you help us to not just hear words, 01:09:48.060 |
to not just agree mentally, but Father, to give ourselves to the truths that we so believe. 01:09:57.060 |
Well, today we're going to be participating in communion. 01:10:04.060 |
And communion, before we begin, we always have to give a little bit of instruction as to what it is. 01:10:10.060 |
And we want to remember that because of the importance and seriousness of participating in the Lord's table. 01:10:17.060 |
For us who believe in the authority of the scriptures, communion is one of two ordinances. 01:10:22.060 |
There's baptism, and we see that kind of week to week. 01:10:25.060 |
That's the initiatory, but we have the ongoing ordinance called communion. 01:10:29.060 |
Given to us by Christ, directly to the church. 01:10:33.060 |
And Jesus gave this to us as a symbol and a reminder that is so helpful for us to remember what Jesus did in that new covenant. 01:10:40.060 |
As he left us for a moment of time, we're to continue regularly in remembrance until he returns. 01:10:47.060 |
That's what communion is. We remember what he did, and then we remember that he's coming back. 01:10:52.060 |
Every time we take up the elements, we have to examine ourselves. 01:10:59.060 |
To repent, to surrender where necessary, and be brought back to a place of love and gratitude and submission to his will. 01:11:06.060 |
So that we can say with clear conscience that we are the body of Christ. 01:11:17.060 |
"For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread. 01:11:24.060 |
And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' 01:11:29.060 |
In the same way, he took the cup also after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. 01:11:35.060 |
Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. 01:11:37.060 |
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 01:11:43.060 |
Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 01:11:49.060 |
But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 01:11:54.060 |
For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly." 01:12:00.060 |
I'm going to ask the leaders to come up and open up the communion table and the praise team as well to come on up. 01:12:08.060 |
But during this time, take time to meditate, to repent, to surrender your will again to God, to remember what it is that he's done. 01:12:16.060 |
And when you're ready, to come up and take of the elements. 01:12:20.060 |
We asked for believers that have been baptized, which is the initiatory element or the ordinance, to come and participate in this. 01:12:30.060 |
And please do so, take the elements on your own once you get back to your seat. 01:12:36.060 |
We're going to be giving ample time for you to pray, and then at a certain point I'll come back up onto the mic to say that we'll be closing the table soon. 01:12:44.060 |
With that, the gluten-free option is over there, so if you need that, please go to that table. 01:12:49.060 |
Let me go ahead and pray for us, and then we'll give you time to meditate. 01:12:55.060 |
Heavenly Father, I pray God that we would take this seriously, that we would take a deep, long look at our hearts, 01:13:02.060 |
and make sure that we surrender all things before we come to your table. 01:13:26.060 |
Behold the Lamb who bears our sins away, slain for us. 01:13:36.060 |
And we remember the promise made that all who come in faith find forgiveness at the cross. 01:13:51.060 |
So we share in this bread of life, and we drink of His sacrifice as a sign of our bond of peace around the table of the King. 01:14:29.060 |
The body of our Savior Jesus Christ, torn for you. Eat and remember the wounds that heal, the debt that brings us to life, paid the price to make us far. 01:14:54.060 |
So we share in this bread of life, and we drink of His sacrifice as a sign of our bond of love around the table of the King. 01:15:32.060 |
The blood that cleanses every stain of sin shed for you. Drink and remember He drained death's cup that all may enter in to receive the life of God. 01:15:56.060 |
So we share in this bread of life, and we drink of His sacrifice as a sign of our bond of grace around the table of the King. 01:16:34.060 |
And so with thankfulness and faith we rise to respond and to remember our call to follow in the steps of Christ as His body here on earth. 01:16:59.060 |
As we share in His suffering, we proclaim Christ will come again and we'll join in the feast of heaven around the table of the King. 01:19:49.060 |
We'll just give it a few more moments before we close the table. So if you haven't yet received it, please go ahead and make your way to the front. 01:20:35.060 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your table. We thank you God that Christ was sent by you so that we can have a way to you. 01:20:46.060 |
And we pray Lord that we would remember with all the weight of what that would mean. 01:20:52.060 |
That would impress upon our hearts every time we take up these elements. That we would so value Him that there would be no stain in us that we desire to bring. 01:21:01.060 |
And so Father, thank you for this time of examination and we pray Lord for your spirit to really settle upon our hearts. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 01:21:11.060 |
Let's all stand together for a closing worship. 01:21:38.060 |
Now I love the voice of Jesus on the cross of Calvary. He declares His work is finished. He has spoken this hope to me. 01:21:56.060 |
Though the sun had ceased its shining. Though the war appeared as lost. Christ had triumphed over evil. It was finished upon that cross. 01:22:23.060 |
Now the cursing has been broken. Jesus paid the price for me. All the pardon He has offered. Great the welcome that I receive. 01:22:41.060 |
Holy I approach my Father. Moved in Jesus' righteousness. There is no more guilt to bear. It was finished upon that cross. 01:23:17.060 |
Death was once my great opponent. Fear once had a hold on me. But the Son who died to save us rose that we would be free indeed. 01:23:43.060 |
Death was once my great opponent. Fear once had a hold on me. But the Son who died to save us rose that we would be free indeed. 01:24:01.060 |
Yes He rose that we would be free indeed. Free from every plan of darkness. Free to live and free to love. 01:24:15.060 |
Death is dead and Christ is risen. It was finished upon that cross. Onward to eternal glory. To my Savior and my God. 01:24:34.060 |
I rejoice in Jesus. It was finished upon that cross. It was finished upon that cross. It was finished upon that cross. 01:25:03.060 |
Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God our Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all both now and forevermore. Amen. 01:25:13.060 |
God sent His Son. They called Him Jesus. He came to love, heal and forgive. He lived and died to buy my pardon. 01:25:42.060 |
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives. Because He lived I can face tomorrow. Because He lived all fear is gone. 01:26:11.060 |
Because I know He holds the future and life is worth the living just because He lived. 01:26:33.060 |
And everyone was made so we could see. So we could see. 01:26:48.060 |
You are the glorious Christ. The greatest of all delights. Your power is unequal. Your love beyond all heights. No greater sacrifice. 01:27:09.060 |
When you lay down your life we join the song of angels who praise you day and night. Glorious Christ. 01:27:31.060 |
You left the air of heaven to breathe the dust of earth and dwell among the outcast and poor. 01:27:51.060 |
You came to be forsaken and died to take our curse so you could be our joy forevermore. Forevermore. 01:28:16.060 |
You are the glorious Christ. The greatest of all delights. Your power is unequal. Your love beyond all heights. No greater sacrifice. 01:28:37.060 |
When you lay down your life we join the song of angels who praise you day and night. Glorious Christ. 01:28:54.060 |
You're seated now in heaven enthroned at God's right hand. You shattered death and freed us from our fears. And though we cannot see you, you're coming back again. 01:29:10.060 |
And all will be made right when you appear. And all will be made right when you appear. 01:29:27.060 |
You are the glorious Christ. The greatest of all delights. Your power is unequal. Your love beyond all heights. 01:29:43.060 |
You are the glorious Christ. The greatest of all delights. Your power is unequal. Your love beyond all heights. No greater sacrifice. 01:30:04.060 |
When you lay down your life we join the song of angels who praise you day and night. Glorious Christ. 01:30:19.060 |
Glorious Christ. Glorious Christ. We praise you. We praise you day and night. You're the greatest of all delights. 01:30:36.060 |
You're the greatest of all delights. You're the greatest of all delights. You're the greatest of all delights. 01:30:46.060 |
You're the greatest of all delights. You're the greatest of all delights. You're the greatest of all delights. 01:30:58.060 |
The grace of God has reached for me. And pulled me from the raging sea. 01:31:28.060 |
And I am safe on this holy ground. The Lord is my salvation.