I hope you guys had a good discussion. I had some questions that came in. Most of these things are probably going to be addressed just from the regular going over this section. I think I missed two. We had praise and prayer before we left and then I was gone for a week.

Usually it takes me about one or two sessions to jump back in. I forgot what time we were supposed to start. Is this the right time? Am I too early? This is good? Okay. I got to mark that. All right. Okay. So we're looking at verse 13 to 20.

So let me pray first and we'll jump right in. Heavenly Father, we ask Lord God that you would bless this time. Help us to deepen our understanding of Christ and what he has done, who he is, would cause us Lord God to deepen our appreciation of what it is that we have and that we would live our lives according to the knowledge that we gain.

We pray Father that you would bless this time, bless the fellowship that we have, the conversations, the discussions, may it all lead to sanctification of your church. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. All right. To begin, just to kind of again, like each session we want to just give you just some hints or some guide as to how to study the text.

There was some confusion and I'm sure it's hopefully it's cleared up by now. When I asked you guys to take some time to ask the questions, asking a question was not your homework. Asking the question is to get you to study it. Okay. Hopefully that was clear by now.

The reason why I didn't want to give you the question is because part of the study is for you to ask the question. Right? So that you can dig and say, "Oh, what's going on here?" So that would lead to you digging and looking for observations. Instead of me saying, "Hey, answer these questions," then you just answer it and then finish your thing.

So hopefully that's clear by now. So the homework for the week is actually for you to take those questions that you may have discussed in your group and do your best to answer it and then come. So if you haven't been doing that, hopefully that'll clear things up. Okay.

And then each session, we're not just going to give you some guidelines as to what to look for. And then hopefully that'll help you in doing future Bible studies. So the goal of this Bible study is not simply to know the book of Colossians for me to study and then say, "Hey, here's what this passage means." The real goal for this is for you to be able to go to your home and take the same principles and study 1 Thessalonians on your own.

Do quiet time in this manner. So you don't just skim through the book and then say, "Oh, I understand it." Okay. So a couple of things in your handouts, right? It begins with, I asked three things or three things to look for. One is where are the paragraph breaks in this session, in this text, verse 13 to 17 or 20.

Within the paragraph breaks, what are the specific thoughts or teachings within each division? Meaning once you get the bigger picture in the 20 verses, go in deeply and don't end with just a division of these groups. But within that, what are the thoughts? What are the arguments that are being made?

And one of the things that will help you to do that is asking what are the key words? I saw Pastor Mark's teaching and he kind of covered a little bit about this last time. But again, we want to help you to do that. So we're going to jump right in and we're going to look at the fourfold division, okay?

At least that I found, okay? I broke up. If you look at the second sheet, basically what I did was I copied the verses on the sheet and I broke it down for you in thoughts, okay? Remember I told you that this is what I do whenever I do quiet time or when I'm preparing for a sermon and I want to see the thought flow of the author, I break it down into thoughts, right?

So this is Jesus Christ. He died for us. He came back from the dead. And so breaking it down like that helps me to see the thought flow of the author. And so I did that for you here, right? So whenever there's a comma or and or therefore, I put it in a separate line just so that you can see the different thought flow.

So, and I also gave you this because I want you to take your notes on this, right? You're going to be taking some notes on this and this is just a general outline. So I gave you some space for that. But I also want you, as I'm going through the text and I want you to highlight where the insights are coming from.

So the most of the things that I'm going to be saying are things because we sat, I sat there and and just combed through the text. It's not because of some Greek exegesis. It's not because I saw this in a commentary or it's not because of seminary education. Anybody who picks up the Bible and starts to ask questions and take time to dig, you should be able to come up with these same insights.

So I'm going to show you, okay, these are some of the things that I've observed and hopefully if you've done your study and and taken plenty of time to comb through the text, you'll probably see like, oh, I saw the same thing, right? Again majority of these things that I'm going to be saying is not coming from any commentary.

It's just from observation coming from here. Okay. Some of the questions that you ask, obviously, it'll be helpful to know this information before. All right. If you look at verse 13 to 20, okay, and I'm not going to do this, ask you to do this now, but there are clear breaks.

If I was to give a sermon on these verses, it'd be probably a four-part sermon because there's clearly four separate thoughts that are tied together, but then it's given in four-paragraph form. So the first paragraph is found in verse 13 and 14. So that's the first paragraph and that basically is, okay, I'm going to write it here, "who Jesus is to us." Again, I'm just using my words, okay, that's what I observed.

Second thought flow I see in verse 15 to 17. Number two, "who Jesus is in light of creation." Okay. Oh, did it move? All right. The third one is verse 18 along. Getting uglier and uglier as I go. Anyway, you know what I mean. Okay. "Who Jesus is in light of creation." Okay.

You can't read it? Oh, sorry. Light of the church. And then the fourth paragraph, "who Jesus is in light of the Father." So if I was to give, if I was preaching through the book of Colossians, that would kind of be the breakdown of the thought flow, right? It's Christology broken up into four parts.

Who Jesus is in relation to us, what did he do for us? Who Jesus is in relation to creation, right? He's the creator, he's the sustainer, all things are created by him and for him. Who is Jesus in relation to the church? And then who is Jesus in relation to the Father?

All of it Christology, but in four separate parts. Okay. Again, the reason why we do that is because you understand the thought flow of the author. It'll help you to understand the details a little bit better because you'll see where the thought flow fits. Okay. So that's the broad outline.

So, and I gave on this sheet, you know, four and then each one has the separate title so you don't have to write it down. So if you want to take notes, you can take the notes here and make sure that you're making notes as we go here. So the first thing that we see in verse 13 and 14, so you want to take it section by section, right?

So the first section, verse 13 and 14, who is Jesus in relation to us? And it talks about redemption. So in redemption, he mentions how he rescued us, transferred us, and redeemed us, right? These are all very important words that describes our salvation. So he rescued us from what?

Domain of darkness. So natural question is, what is the domain of darkness? Who's in charge of this darkness? What created this darkness? These are a lot of the questions that would come up in that. So scripture clearly says in Luke chapter 22, 53, that the God of this age is Satan, that domain of darkness is, who has the power over the domain of darkness?

Satan, right? So when he said that, that's found in Luke chapter 22, 53. So he rescued us from the domain of darkness. So the way he describes us in our salvation as we were in bondage, in slavery, by the power of Satan, whether we recognize that or not, right?

He transferred us, right? He transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. Now this is a very important word, right? He didn't just rescue us from the domain of darkness. If your view of salvation ends with rescue from the power of sin, right? We're no longer under Satan's control.

And that's where a lot of Christians end up kind of in this in-between world where we are safe from the penalty of our sin, but now we're waiting to get to heaven so that we can enjoy heaven for eternity. The Bible describes salvation as being rescued and being transferred from domain of darkness to the kingship of Christ.

And that's why in our church we read the book Lordship Salvation. No, that's not the title of the book. Gospel according to Jesus, right? Which describes Lordship Salvation because salvation is removing us from domain of darkness and then transferring us to the kingdom. So when you say kingdom, you have a king, right?

You have a king, so we're under his rule. Okay? So that's the second thing that is described. And then he said, well, how did he do that? He redeemed us, right? The idea of redemption is something that was worthless, thrown away, and you pay something and you redeem it back, right?

And that's the idea of redemption. So he rescued us, transferred us. How did he do it? He redeemed us. And how did he redeem us? Redeemed us from what? For our sins, right? He didn't redeem us from poverty. He didn't redeem us from sickness or hard life or bad marriage.

All of these things are symptoms of sin. But it's the core issue is sin itself. So whenever you have the false gospel, the false gospel promises redemption from all these things that are hardship in life. But the Bible says the redemption happens when he delivers us from our sins.

So when he delivers us from our sin, then people who've been delivered from sin into the kingship of Christ, then there's a reflection of that in the life of a believer. He becomes generous. He becomes giving. He becomes gracious. He's concerned about the poor. He becomes a better father, better mother, better son, better daughter.

But these are all byproducts of what happens at the core. But Jesus did not come to save us from poverty. Jesus did not come so that we can have an easier life. So all of these things are accurate descriptions of what happened to us. Now, how much of this did you understand when you became a Christian?

Probably you understood some part of it, right? You became saved. You met Christ. So it was a supernatural encounter. Very few of us went through, you know, went through like a college of information about our faith and what happened and the end result of it is, oh, now I believe.

Most of us went to a retreat and you heard a very simple presentation of the gospel that Christ loves you, died for you, he can save you from your sins. You felt the sin, convicted, and you asked for forgiveness. And all you know is that if you ask for forgiveness, God's going to forgive you.

Now you're not going to be judged, you're going to be in heaven. And that's a very simple understanding of the gospel, but that in and of itself is enough to save you. But after you save, it's like, oh, what did that mean? Right? So even the Colossians, I don't think the Colossians when they read this, understood all of this.

Like, I already know all this. Paul is revealing things about their salvation and about who Jesus is progressively. Because remember, all of this revelation was coming through Apostle Paul, so they didn't have this information before Paul. All they knew was they encountered Christ and they believed him. So these details are probably new to them as it is to a lot of us as we're studying.

But the more we understand it, it gives light of purpose. I see a lot of Christians, like, you become a Christian and you're looking for purpose, or you're trying to find yourself. It's because you don't understand your salvation. You got stuck in between two worlds. You got saved from your sins, but you haven't been delivered into the kingdom.

Right? You have, but you don't recognize it. You don't know what happened or what God is expecting. So a lot of people are wandering around looking for the will of God. But the will of God is for you to be under His will. Right? His will. Not, well I know God's will, but what is God's will for me?

Does He want me to be a doctor? Does He want me to be a lawyer? Does He want me to do this and that? All of that has to be subjected to His kingship. Right? So if you're trying to look for His specific will for you, independent of His kingdom, you're never going to find it.

Because God already revealed what His will is, to be under His will. And that's what the purpose of salvation was, is to restore a rebellious people who are refusing to submit to His kingship, to redeem them back, to transfer them from dominion of darkness into the kingdom of His Son.

Right? By forgiving our sins. So that's the first part. Okay? Second part, who is Jesus in light of creation? He is the image of the invisible God. Icon. Right? Now when He says image, He's not just talking about like, take a picture. Right? You know, we take a picture, we take that picture, it's like this is the image of so-and-so.

When He says He's the image of the invisible God, He's talking about a God that they've never personally seen. They couldn't see Him. Right? Remember the Bible says, whoever sees God, he will die. He can't be in the presence of this Holy God. So a God who was distant, that they heard of, right?

They saw from a distance, they don't know what He looks like. Right? They only know what He's revealed. Jesus Christ actually came. So that's why when the disciples asked only if you would show us the Father, right? Then we would be okay. And then Jesus says how long have I been with you and you still don't understand.

If you've seen me, you have seen the Father. Right? So this is going to go back later on when it says the fullness of God dwelt in Jesus, meaning that every part of Jesus was the fullness of God. So if you wanted to see Jesus, you don't go through Jesus to see the Father.

Basically, if you've seen Jesus, you've seen the Father. Because He is the image of the Father. Right? So if you've seen Him, you've seen the Father. That's what this means. Right? He's not just saying that He's an imprint of Him. He's saying He is Him. So one, so we're talking about who is Jesus.

One, He's the image of the Father. Two, He's the firstborn of a creation. So a lot of people who read this, again, this is one of those things that you have to do a little bit more digging of context. So again, so that you don't end up in Paris.

You have to know what do they mean? Right? What did they mean? So firstborn in our culture, when we say firstborn, secondborn, thirdborn, we exclusively, 100% of the time, we use it chronologically. I'm firstborn. Right? An only child doesn't say I'm firstborn. You just say I'm only child. Because whenever we say firstborn, we mean there's a second or thirdborn.

This period of time when they said firstborn, the word firstborn meant something more than that. Right? As an example today, if somebody says He's the baby of our home, it means, it can mean two things. One is, chronologically, He's the last. Right? But what's the other meaning behind that?

How can somebody be using that word? He's the baby of our home. Hmm? Okay. Depending on the most needy. Okay. I was thinking, I was thinking something else. That could be it. That's what the, right? What else could it mean when you say He's the baby? Yes, youngest, chronologically, it could mean that.

But what else does it mean? He's cherished. Right? I was like, none of you thought of that? What's wrong with you people? So when you, I'm not saying that that's what it means. I'm saying that's what a parent could mean. That's how it could be understood. Oh, He's baby.

Right? He's baby or He's cherished at home. Right? So in the same way, in that culture, when they say they're firstborn, firstborns naturally receive double portion of all the inheritance. Now, if you're second, third, fourthborn, you might look at that and say, well, that's not fair just because he was born first.

The reason why the firstborn was given double the portion was because he had the responsibility to carry the family line. So if you were Abraham's descendant, whatever promises that was made, the firstborn was the one that was going to receive that promise and go down that line. Even if you did not receive the covenant from God, that family line's name.

So 10 generations from now, what happens to the firstborn and then his firstborn and then his firstborn was going to be the line that's going to connect back to 10 generations earlier. So they gave him double the portion so that he would have double the chance of being successful because it didn't just mean for him.

It meant he had the responsibility on his shoulder to carry his family line generation to generation. So in that culture, when they said firstborn, it doesn't, it didn't just mean in first, second, third, right? Chronologically. It meant that there was a special anointing upon him. So when he says Jesus is the firstborn of creation, he's not talking about chronologically.

He was first and came second and then third. He's saying he's firstborn, meaning that there is a special burden upon him of all the creation. So he, in other words, it's the cult, the culture at that time would have understood this as he is what? Premier. He is above.

He is special of all the creations. Okay. Not necessarily chronological. So when he says for God to love the world that he gave his only begotten son, right? Okay. That's not the verse I was thinking about. Okay. I went somewhere else. Okay. Completely erase that. Completely erase that. Okay.

So when the Bible talks about him being firstborn, right? In reference to Jesus, not talking about chronologically. So one, he is the image of God, meaning he's God himself. He is firstborn over creation. In other words, he is above all the creation and then that's exactly what he talks about, right?

Starting from verse three, "For by him all things were created." Right? Now, he just said he is preeminent above all creation and then he explains why. Because he's the creator himself. All things were created, all things through him were created, both the heavens and the earth, visible and invisible, throne and rulers and authorities.

So we can sit here and dissect, you know, authorities and dominions, visible, invisible. But the point of this section is simply to say everything that was created was created by him. Right? Seen, unseen. Heaven, earth. All authorities, all dominions, everything that you can possibly think of is under his rule.

He is preeminent of all creation. He's the firstborn of all creation. Okay? It's on his shoulder. All things were created through him and for him. So the purpose, he is God, he is preeminent, he's the creator. And not only did he create everything, he said everything was created for him.

He didn't create us so that we can enjoy life. He created us for what purpose? That we would worship him. We weren't created to be worshipped. I mean, think carefully how much of our life is dedicated in desiring to be worshipped. Wanting to be the best basketball player, wanting to be the tallest, the best looking, make the most money, live in the nicest house, want to be famous, whatever it may be.

Even as Christians. I want to be the best Christian. I want to memorize the most scripture. I want to evangelize the most. I want to be the most sacrificial. If we're not careful, even the ambition to be the best Christian is a, if you're not careful, could be motivated by a desire to be worshipped within the Christian camp.

And that's why Paul calls that out in 1 Corinthians 13. Even if I give my body to be burned, if I do not have love, it means nothing. Because it can be motivated by a selfish, rebellious nature. Even martyrdom for glory. Whose glory? His glory or her glory. So he says all things were created by him and ultimately it's for him.

And then finally he is before all things and in him all things hold together. Right? Not only is it about him, the only way that we can even be sustained is if he's the one who sustains us. In other words, all of this in creation, right, summarizes who he is.

So when we say God-centered worship, the moment it's not God-centered, it means absolutely nothing. We join the rebellion. This is not an option between this church is about God-centeredness, this is about the lost. The moment is no longer God-centered, you are part of the rebellion. You're no longer in accord with what the scripture says we are.

Right? Even the way we do church, it's about us. My need, my desire, their need, their desire, right? No. Our desire went astray. Because we rebelled against God. When God forgives us and restores us back into his lordship, even our desires are corrected. Right? We, you know, in our generation we talk a lot about how homosexuality is sinful, which it is.

Absolutely. If there's anybody who struggles with the theory of that, although the Bible doesn't teach that, absolutely wrong. The Bible is crystal clear. There is no debate about it. Only reason why there's a debate is because there's a camp that doesn't want it to be true. But if you subject, objectively look at it, the Bible is not ambiguous about it.

There are some things that could be debated. That is not one of the issues that could be debated. But, but the problem is, because we debate about the homosexuality issue, we think that that in and of itself, and we forget that even heterosexual desires have been perverted. It's not just homosexual desires.

Even the people who are not homosexuals have perverted desires. Our desire for fame, money, sex, all of that has been perverted. So when God forgives us of our sins and he restores us back to his kingdom, he's trying to not only restore us back to his kingdom, but even our very desires are to be redeemed.

And then all of a sudden our desires become redeemed for what he purposed, for his glory. Thirdly, who is Jesus in the light of the church? He is also the head of the church. Now I want you to watch this. He talks about what he did for us. He redeemed us.

He talks in detail what he did. And then he talks about creation. He doesn't say here, but it's assumed. All things were made by him and for him, sustained through him. He doesn't say it here, in between here, but it's assumed. Though that's what God intended, mankind is in rebellion against God.

Right? He doesn't say those words in between these words, but we know that. So when he says, and all of a sudden he jumps to the church, what is the church in this redemptive plan? What creation is doing God is trying to restore through the church. So the word church basically means a assembly of called out people.

It basically means assembly. This is not a new Christian word that all of a sudden appeared out of nowhere. The word church was used to describe a sacred assembly. So it was used during the Greek period to talk about their Congress. When the senators would gather together and separate themselves from the common people to gather together to do a sacred thing to take care of their country, they called that the church.

A gathering of called out people. That same word is used to describe the assembly of Christians. People who have been called out from common, whatever was before, and then gathering together for a specific purpose. That's the word that is used for the church. Now why does he introduce that?

Because the purpose of the church is to redeem what was lost in creation through the church. So he's creating a new people. Right? He's creating a new gathering of people because the gathering of people, what did that lead to in creation? Judgment. Power of Babel. That's what that was.

They gathered together, they assembled together. What did they do? They would challenge God. So he scatters them. Right? So they all scatter and all of a sudden Jesus Christ comes and he dies on the cross and then those people that he scatters, what does he do? What's the first thing that happens?

In Acts chapter 2. Remember in Tower of Babel they're all speaking and in one language and they're all in unison. What do they use that for? Rebellion against God. When the second Adam comes in Christ and he establishes kingdom in the church, what's the first thing that happens? He gathers all these people with different languages and then through the speaking of tongues they were speaking to understand each other.

So what was happening there? He's reversing the curse of the Babel in the church. That make sense? So he's regrouping what was lost through the church and that's why he says the manifold wisdom of God is being proclaimed through the church because the church is the catalyst for salvation of the world.

He's creating a new people. Now why is this so significant? Because the church, you hear more and more people say I love Jesus but I don't love the church. Right? You can't be a Christian if you don't love the church because Jesus is the head of the church. That's just like saying I love your head but the rest of you I don't want.

Right? I want to marry your head. I guess I'm not disconnect your head from your neck. So when we get married, as weird as that is, that's exactly what people say because they don't know what they're talking about. You cannot separate the head from the body. Right? Because the body is God's purpose of salvation.

So he says he is the head of the church. Second, he's the beginning. Meaning he's the one who initiated it. A church did not come and all of a sudden she said I'm going to own this. He says I will, right? I will, but I will establish my church and the gates of Hades were not forbidden against it.

So his intent, he says to make disciples of all the nations but what's the purpose of making disciples? Is to build his church. So making disciples and building his church are not independent things. Right? This is why the second book that we read is the master plan for the church.

Because if you don't understand God's intent for the church and you don't understand the involvement of the church in our salvation and glorifying God and worshiping, then again it's like worshiping the head but I don't want the body. Right? You cannot be connected to Christ if you're not connected to the church.

He is the firstborn from the dead. Right? Now here, again the word firstborn could be used chronologically when it's talking about Christ, it's talking about his preeminence. Here it's used both ways. Right? He's a preeminent over all things, the living and the dead. But here when he says he created the church, he started the church, well how did he do it?

He died and he resurrected. And so he was the first that came back from the dead with a new glorified body and he paved the way for all of the other new creation to follow his same path to build a new creation in the church. Does that make sense?

What was corrupted and lost in creation, he reverses the curse through the church, through his death and resurrection, so when he's the first from the dead, he basically kicks the door open that we could not open because of our sins. And so now when we get baptized, we are baptized, right, in union with his death, but we are also united with him in his resurrected life.

So he's the first from the dead and then we will be second, third, fourth, and fifth. So that he himself will have the first place in everything. So again, back to his intent. The purpose of all of this is not simply so that you can be free and then yes, he kicked the door, we can, we're free to do whatever we want.

He said no, the purpose of this is to establish Christ as King, because that's what was lost at the fall. Now before I go any further, you know, this rubs some people the wrong way. This seems egotistical. Why does he tell us to humble ourselves and then he keeps saying, you know, glorify him, it's only about him, it's all about him, everything is about him.

First, because it is, because it is, because that's the truth. We're not like taking a bunch of different things and say, well we're going to choose God to be the best. He created us. He has the power of life and death. And if he is not glorified, we die.

So think about it, I mentioned this before in sermons many times, but if we've been created for the purpose of worship, when we function the way God created, that's when we experience the greatest life. The greatest, when you experience the greatest life is when you see something that you worship.

That's why we're idol worshippers. The only difference is which idol we worship. Because we were created for the purpose of worship. So when we worship, when we worship God, there's nothing beyond God. Because every other idol you worship, something else comes up and that idol looks better and that idol looks better and you jump from idol to idol to idol, from time to time, generation, circumstance to circumstance.

But when you become the worshipper of the living God, there is nothing to jump to. Because you're worshipping the highest being. You're worshipping there is nothing greater than that. Right? You worship Kobe, there comes LeBron. I don't know who's up after that, Zion. Something's going to come and take its place because eventually it erodes, they're eventually not going to be objects of worship, they're going to disappoint.

But when you worship God, it's permanent and it is eternal. And no matter how long we exist, we're going to be gazing at God and there's going to be more things to be able to worship God for eternity. That's how much his glory is. He doesn't fade, he's immutable for eternity.

We're going to be turning around and there's something else to worship that way. It's just going to go deeper and deeper and deeper. That's who God is. He's eternal. His glory is eternal. Right? And so if God created us for that, when we are restored back to worshipping God, it's not egotistical.

When he is glorified, we live. So all he is doing is restoring life for us. And if that bothers you, it's because innately you're not a worshipper of God. Because if you are a worshipper of God, you would recognize that that's when you feel the most alive. And this, I'm not just talking theory, I'm already telling you something you already know if you're a believer.

Fourthly, who is Jesus in the light of his father? For it was the father's good pleasure. Right? He didn't do this reluctantly. There's a fullness to dwell in him. So this was another question that came up. Fullness to dwell in him, it wasn't like God didn't give him a portion.

He's not just a representative or image of his goodness or image of his kindness. All that is about God is in Christ. So we look at Christ and say, "Well, he was so gracious he died and the God of the Old Testament, the father, is so vengeful because he wiped out the world and Jericho and he did all of that.

But Jesus comes and he dies on the cross, so it seems like Jesus and God the father seem like different sides. Well, he says, "No, all the fullness of God dwelt in Christ." He hates sin just as much as the father. The father loves sinners just as much as Christ.

If you've seen Jesus, you've seen the father. So if there's something about God you didn't understand, the more you study Christ, the more you understand the father too and the Holy Spirit. So the fullness of God dwells in him. And through him to reconcile all things to himself. That's the goal.

Reconciliation is the goal because every problem that we have is because we've fallen away from the author of life. So if you've fallen away from the author of life and you are trying to live, you're faking it. That's why if you say you're a believer and you have no relationship with Jesus Christ, you have to take a step back and ask, "Have I been reconciled?" Because that's what it means to be saved, to be reconciled to the father.

So if there's no affection, like zero, you love the gathering of people more than Jesus himself. And I know there's times where we can be distracted. I know there's times that, you know, our hearts not as vibrant as it ought to be. But if your continual walk in life, you love the gathering of people more than God himself.

You have to take a step back and ask yourself, "Have I been reconciled with this father?" If he is as glorious as the Bible says, why do I not? Why is that not my conviction? Because your sanctification depends on it. The word of God is so, so, so boring if you don't know Jesus.

I mean, think about it. He's the image of the invisible God. He reconciled us, rescued us, placed us into his kingdom. I mean, to somebody whose eyes has not been opened and hasn't tasted the goodness of God, oh my gosh. Have you ever tried studying theology before you were a Christian?

Made no sense to me. Zero. I mean, I went to vacation Bible school all my life. Memorized scripture, never missed any Sunday. I mean, I'm third generation pastor, Christian family, so I can't remember a single day that I missed church. Every time I opened up the Bible, none of it made sense to me.

Nor did I have any desire. Only reason why I did it was because you got candy for memorizing scripture, so I did it. And don't get me wrong, I'm thankful that I did it, because all those candies that I sucked on eventually, after I became a Christian, it was in my head.

So I don't think there's anything wrong with that, right? But that's all it meant to me when I wasn't a Christian. So non-Christian, as soon as you open up the Bible, I mean, it is boring. All of a sudden your eyes get open. This Jesus that we're studying is not a theory, is not somebody far off.

This is the Jesus that you met. This is Jesus that you're longing to see. And all of a sudden you're not studying theory or theology. You're studying your Savior, who loved you and died for you, where you feel life and joy and purpose. And all of a sudden the Word of God starts to make sense, right?

Even the hard parts, it's like finding a puzzle and trying to bring it together, right? And only the Holy Spirit can open his eyes to that. So through him, reconciling, having made peace through the blood of the cross, through him, right? Having peace with God. One of the questions that I asked is, where does anxiety come from, right?

Ultimately, ultimately, I'm not saying that you can't be anxious about your finance, your future, but ultimately anxiety comes from being disconnected with God. Because God is sovereign, he's in control. Anxiety comes because you're not, you're uncertain about the future. You're uncertain about what's going to happen, right? You're uncertain that you want something and it's not going to happen.

But when you believe in a sovereign God who loves you, cares for you, who is in control of all things, I'm not saying that we don't struggle with anxiety, but anxiety is not what characterizes your life. When you have peace with God, God gives you the peace of God.

Because you know that whatever happens in your life is in God's hands. But if you don't believe that, that's where anxiety comes from, because you have no control over what happens tomorrow. If I do this, and what if I don't get that? If I do this, and what if I don't receive that?

Then what happens in my life? If you don't believe in a sovereign God who loves you and has control, he was willing to send his only son to die for you. How will he not along with him give you all things? So if you believe in that, all of a sudden God gives you peace.

When anxiety comes, he's in control. What you meant for evil, God meant for good. So the peace of God, right? Peace with God gives you the peace of God. So Christian can feel anxious, but anxiousness cannot be the primary character of a Christian, if you believe in a sovereign God.

Because it's illogical to say he loved me enough to send his only begotten son, but he doesn't love me enough to provide for my needs. It makes absolutely no sense. So he says he came having made peace through the blood of his son Jesus Christ. I say whether things on earth or things in heaven, in other words, there's nothing that is outside of God's sovereign hands.

We went through it pretty quick, but I mean it's pretty heavy stuff, but every single part of this, again, like I said, if I wanted to really jump into it and to dissect all of this, this would probably take at least four weeks to do. But the goal of the study is to get you to seek insight for yourselves.

None of the stuff that we went through now is something that you have to read a commentary to get. The more you sit in front of your Bible asking questions and seeking observations, jotting down notes, eventually you become better and better at it, and you'll see a lot of the things that you observe, and then you go to the commentaries and he's saying the same thing, right?

So my goal is to get you to be confident to be able to study the Word of God so that you can compare your notes with the commentary instead of getting your notes from the commentary. Okay? All right, so the four questions, discussion question three, why is it important to be precise about Jesus' identity?

Can someone be saved if they reject Jesus as the second person of the Trinity? If you're a Jehovah Witness and say he's not God, he's just a God, can that person be saved? Use scripture, and please if you're a small group leader don't let that discussion go completely off tangent and say, "Oh yeah!" So you're small group leaders because we're hoping you will guide this conversation.

All right? Three, have you been reconciled to God? What are some things you would expect from a reconciled relationship with anyone? Not just delivered from domain of darkness, but you've been transformed to the kingdom of his son, right? By redemption from forgiveness of sins. So what does that reconciliation look like with God?

Do you have peace with God which leads to peace of God? How do you explain anxiety when God says he's given us peace? What do you think is the source of this anxiety? Okay? All right, let me pray for us and then you can get in your small group.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time. I pray for the time of discussion will be fruitful. I pray, Lord God, that the things that we've studied that we would not just leave it with knowledge and tickling our ears, that we would not just be hearers, but to be doers of your word.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.