Good King Saul

It's good to see you all. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I want to invite you to stand with us. We'll pray and we'll get started.

Father, we thank you for the day, God. We give you praise. We worship you, Lord God. Let's pray that as we come here this morning, Lord, let's pray that you'd help us to set everything else aside that's going on in life, all the distractions that are going on in our world, Lord, just to focus on you and just to rest in you this morning. We love you, Father. We praise you and we thank you in your precious and holy name. Amen.

You guys can go and have a seat if you like, and we'll continue on.

Blessed is your name, Jesus. I just thank you, Lord, for just how faithful you've always been. Lord God, even when I'm not faithful, Lord, you are still faithful. You'll never fail. Lord God, there's been so many times in my life where I haven't seen you working, Lord, or at least that's how it seemed. But, Lord, looking back, I can clearly see. I can clearly see you working, Lord.

You were there. You were working. You were faithful. You never fail, Lord, not once.

And I trust in my Savior. Never fail. One more time. I trust in so... Lord God, you are good to us, Lord. We thank you. In spite of all of our shortcomings, Lord God, you are still good and still faithful. The life that you've given us, Lord, to return praise to you. To sing of your goodness. Your goodness is running after me. When my life laid down, I'm surrendering.

Your goodness is running after me. It's running after me. So, God, your goodness.

Lord, I draw my tongue.

Would you guys go ahead and stand with me for this last one?

Lord, this morning, God, we just invite your Holy Spirit here this morning to come and do its mighty work. Lord, if there's anything in our lives that we haven't done, we just want to pray for it. Lord, if there's anything in our lives, Lord, that's just causing a distraction or whatever the case may be, help us to sit it aside this morning. Lord, just come and do a mighty work.

Let us leave this place different, changed, and on fire for you this morning, Lord. Lord, experience your presence this morning. What it's like to be in your presence.

Lord God, we just thank you for the day. And Lord God, it is our desire to be in your presence. To experience. Lord, the glory of your goodness. Help us to be more aware of your presence. Help us to focus on you more each and every day. Lord, as this world just seems to get out of control, Lord, we know that you are in control. And help us to focus on you and not what's going on.

This morning, God, just help us to rest in you and in your word. Pray that your Holy Spirit would overflow Pastor Ryan. Give him the words. Speak and give us hearts to receive the word that you prepared for us. We love you, Lord. We praise you. We thank you. In Jesus name. All God's people said. Amen. Praise God. You guys go ahead and take some time and greet one another.

Announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I am glad that you have joined us this morning. A few things to take note of in your bulletin. As always, the things going on on the left hand side. But here in the middle section, today is the first Sunday of the month. And so. We have our intercessory prayer tonight down at the other end of the hallway at six o'clock. So if you have a chance to join us for that, that'd be great.

Women's breakfast is coming up this Saturday, June the 8th at Daisy Maze at 8 a.m. So ladies take note of that. And then there's still one conference left. We had the one yesterday in Wellington. Had a great time over there. We still have one more coming up in Emporia this coming weekend. So if you have a chance to catch all or any of that, it would be. Be pretty good, too.

And then also VBS. I think my wife is going to come make an announcement about that. Is that true? Am I telling true stories? Good morning again. VBS coming up June 19th, 20th, 21st, which is right around the corner. Just a couple of weeks. We have a couple of work days coming up June 9th, which is next Sunday from two to four. And then June 18th, which is Tuesday.

We're working from. Like 9 a.m. Until we're done. OK, so those are the two work days. If you want to come to show up. If you signed up to help with VBS out in the hall, we're going to meet after church real quick next week. So if you can just meet down in the Agape room, we'll go over a few things so that you feel comfortable serving. And then if you guys have kids age four to fifth grade, go ahead and get them registered.

There's a QR code in your bulletin. And we would. We'd appreciate it if you do that so we can get them T-shirts and everything else. So that's it.

All right. It's OK. Quick hands. All right. So those are the things that are going on. So if you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced and for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 92. Psalm 92. For this part, we'll be looking at the new American standard. If you need a copy of one, there should be one in a row around you.

I just got a handful more in as well. So we've got even more. And then after we're done, you can go back to reading whatever translation you've brought. But as you are turning to Psalm 92, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's word.

I will read the odd verses. If you will follow along with Jared and the even verses. Psalm 92, a psalm, a song for the Sabbath day. It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to your name. Almost high to declare your loving kindness. In the morning and your faithfulness by night with the 10 string dilute and with harp with resounding music upon the lyre for you.

Oh, Lord, have made me glad by what you have done. I will sing for joy at the works of your hands. How great are your works? Oh, Lord, your thoughts are very deep. A senseless man has no knowledge, nor does a stupid man understand this, that when the wicked sprouted up like grass and all who did it, they were not. And when iniquity flourished, it was only that they might be destroyed for evermore, but you, oh, Lord, are on high forever for behold, your enemies, oh, Lord, for behold, your enemies will perish.

All who do iniquity will be scattered, but you have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox. I have anointed with fresh oil and my eye has looked exultantly upon my foes, my ears here of the evildoers who rise up against me. The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree. He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon planted in the house of the Lord. They will flourish in the courts of our God.

They will still yield fruit in old age. They shall be full of sap and very green and read verse 15 with me to declare that the Lord is upright. He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him. And father, I do thank you that we were able to sing praises. To your name this morning, Lord, and that you are God. And so father, as we take time to look at you this morning, as we take time to.

To really delve into the truth of who Jesus is this morning. Would you minister to our hearts or speak to us in the way that only you can and father, we don't want to forget our missions team this down in Guatemala right now. Father, I pray that you would refresh them today as they also are in church and father. May they have a good day of rest before a day of travel tomorrow and bring them back to us safely.

We pray in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Colossians chapter one, Colossians chapter one.

Today, we get into kind of the heart of the book of Colossians and the title of this morning's message is the incomparable Christ part one. It is going to take us two weeks to get through this. And so I have subtitled part one, the preeminence of Christ, the preeminence of Christ. Now. Just by way of introduction in review. Remember those first handful of verses in chapter one were some introductory statements as Paul introduces not only himself, but he greets the the Colossian believers.

And then he thanks God for their faith, for their love and for their hope. And then he moves into that time of prayer as he prays for the Colossian believer like believers like he does for many of the people that he writes to. And that's what we looked at last week is that prayer of Paul. If you didn't have a chance to to listen to last week, I will. Remind you that there are two places, actually three places you can go back and listen to our messages.

You can either go to our website, Calvary Chapel, Ark City dot org and click on the messages tab. You can go back to our Facebook page, Calvary Chapel, Ark City at Facebook. And you can also go to our YouTube page again. Just search for Calvary Chapel of Ark City. But you can do that and go back and listen to the study on on the prayer for last week. But now as we come into this next set of verses, verses 13 through 20, J.B.

Lightfoot puts it like this. In this set of verses, Paul defines the person of Christ claiming for him absolute supremacy. And so we start in verse 13 of chapter one. And this is what it says. For he rescued us from the domain of darkness and he transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God.

The firstborn of all creation. For by him, all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together. He is also the head of the body, the church, and he is the beginning.

The firstborn of all creation. The firstborn of all creation. The firstborn of all creation. The firstborn of all creation. The firstborn from the dead so that he himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him and through him to reconcile to himself all things, having made peace through the blood of his cross.

Through him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven, the incomparable Christ. One of my favorite hymns growing up that we used to sing. One of my favorite hymns growing up that we used to sing. At the Christian school that I went to here went like this. It says, Turn your eyes upon Jesus and look full in his wonderful face. And the things of this earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.

Now, this is exactly what Paul allows us to do in chapter one. Remember the issue that the Colossian people were having is that there was false teaching that had come in that was beginning to diminish Christ. It was beginning to diminish their understanding of who God was. And that his revelation was given to us through Jesus Christ. And so Paul gives us not only the cure for that problem, but ultimately the cure for whatever issue that we have.

And that's that whatever the problem is, a better look at Christ will always bring the cure. Because knowing Jesus more is the greatest cure for whatever it is that ails us as sinful human beings. And so what Paul does in verses 13 through 20 is he gives us 11 things about the incomparable Christ that show us the preeminence of Christ. Now, I know. Every good preacher is supposed to have three main points.

I have 11. So buckle up. We're going to be here till two. I'm just kidding. Well, I'll still get you out of here on time. I promise. But there's 11 things that I want you to pay attention to in here. And I've had to put them all up on here because I think that they're all important. Number one, he is the author of salvation. He is the author of salvation. Now, you may have noticed we backtracked a little bit because we covered verses 13 and 14 last week within the prayer.

Paul had thanked God for these. He had thanked Colossian people that they had been qualified or made sufficient to be partakers of the inheritance in the light. And God did that by redeeming them and forgiving them. But that segue needs to be brought up again because I don't think we can sufficiently put across the power of God in salvation. And that it is the foundation that our lives are built upon.

And so while I won't belabor the point, I do want to talk about it. There's two words I want you to pay attention to. In verse 14, those words are redemption and forgiveness. The word redemption means purchased by the payment of a ransom. Purchased by the payment of a ransom. And of course, you and I, as we're told in 1 Peter, we're not redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold,

but we were redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. That is the ransom that he paid for us. And so we were redeemed, bought off of the slave market of sin, but not only were we redeemed, we were given forgiveness of sins. And that word forgiveness means the cancellation of a penalty. The cancellation of a penalty. Or even more literally, to put away sin.

To put away sin. So all of the sins that we carry on us, the guilt of those things, Jesus lifted them off of us, put them on himself, and he carried them outside of the city. While Jesus carried the cross because the Roman soldiers, told him to carry the cross, he also carried the cross for a really specific purpose. For a really specific reason. Because he was our ultimate scapegoat.

Remember that scapegoat story in the Old Testament on the Day of Atonement, where the high priest on one day a year would come and put his hands on the head of the scapegoat and confess all of the sins of the people. And they would be, if you will, transferred upon the head of that scapegoat. And they would take it outside of the city and set it loose until that goat ran into the wilderness. Which pictured for the nation of Israel that their sins had been carried away from them.

For another year. Well, Jesus, when he carried his cross, he carried it outside of the city to take away sin, not just for a year, but for all time. Because his sacrifice was even better than that of bulls and goats. And so, brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ is for us our author of salvation. Number two, he is the image of the invisible God. The image. Of the invisible God.

The word image in the Greek can carry with it two different ideas. First of all, the word image can speak of a representation or a likeness. Think of a coin. On the front of a coin, if it's a quarter, it's George Washington. George Washington? I don't see very many quarters. It's George Washington, I think, on the front of that coin. That's his image. It's a representation or likeness of him.

Or perhaps when you got up this morning, you looked into a mirror and that mirror reflected your image. It reflected your likeness. It reflected your likeness back upon you. That's exactly who Jesus is. Jesus is the image in that he is the representation or the very likeness of God. In John chapter 14, Jesus was speaking with his disciples. It was shortly before his crucifixion.

And Jesus told them, I'm about to go away. And where I go, you know. And the way you know. And Thomas looked at him and said, Lord, we don't know where you're going. How can we know the way? And Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one can know the way. No one can know the truth and the life. No one can know the way. No one comes to the Father except through me.

And Simon looks at him in the way that only Simon could. Simon was that really serious, not a lot of sarcasm in him sort of guy. He looks at Jesus and he says, show us the Father and we'll be satisfied. And Jesus looks at Simon and he says, have I been with you so long that you don't know? If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. See, he is the image.

He is the likeness of the Father. If we see him, we see the Father. But not only is he the representation or likeness, not only does that term image carry with it that idea, it also carries with it the idea of a manifestation of God manifest in the flesh. Of God manifest in the flesh or fully revealed in Jesus. I want you to go with me over to the book of John real quick.

John chapter 1. Go back to your left. If you hit Luke, you went too far. John chapter 1. And I want you to look at verse 18.

John chapter 1 verse 18. Oh, let those pages turn. I love it. I can't hear the fingers swipe, but I bet I like that too. John chapter 1 verse 18. And this is what it says. No one has seen God at any time. But the only begotten of God who is in the bosom of the Father. He has explained him. If you're reading the old King James and the new King James, it says he has revealed him.

But that's the idea. Is that Jesus is the manifestation. He is the explanation, the revelation of God for us. Because he reveals God to us. If you want to know what the Father looks like, you look and see what Jesus did. If you want to know how the Father would love, we see how Jesus loved. If you want to know how the Father will act, we see how Jesus would act.

If you want to know how the Father would react, we see how Jesus reacted. Have you ever wondered why there are four books in the Bible dedicated to the life of one man? Because when that one man came to earth, he redeemed humanity and he explained the Father to us. He is the manifestation of God. But I came across this great quote in David Guzik's commentary.

He was actually quoting someone else. So it doesn't come directly from him, but it was a quote of a quote. You get where I'm going here. But this is what it says. In Christ, the unknowable becomes knowable. In Christ, the unknowable becomes knowable. Listen, one of the things that should cause all of us to sit back and take note and allow ourselves to be in awe of God

is that apart from the revelation of God, God would be completely unknowable to us. Because in our humanity, in our human minds, we can't take in who God is. He is far. He is far beyond our finding out. He is unknowable to us, right? There's a couple of ways that he reveals himself to us through nature, and that's beautiful. That's why when you go outside and you get amongst nature, you kind of can be taken aback a little bit

because you see all the beauty and the creativity, but it's a lesser understanding of who God is. And we'll get to that in just a moment. But if we really want to see who God is, if we really want to understand the unknowable God, then we will see how the knowable Christ has revealed himself. Revealed him to us. And as awe-inspiring it is that God is as powerful and unknowable as he is,

what's even more amazing is that his grace is so great that he made himself knowable to humanity. He said, I may be far beyond your finding out, but let me see if I can bring it down to a level that you can understand. Isn't that amazing about who God is? He is the image of the invisible God. The next thing that we learn back over in Colossians chapter, it says that he is the firstborn over creation, the firstborn of all creation.

Now, this is one of those phrases that there are certain cults that take and try to twist this and try to say, see, Christ is a created being because he was born. He was firstborn. Therefore, he can't be God because he's a created being. But I would tell you if that's you today, if you have heard that argument, what you have to realize is, is you don't know God and you don't understand the scriptures and you don't understand Greek.

So let me explain to you. What the word firstborn in the Greek means, because the word firstborn in the Greek carries with it two ideas. It carries with it the idea both of priority and it also carries with it the idea of sovereignty. So let's take those two words. First of all, the word priority means that he predates creation. He predates creation. If you were to look at John chapter one, verse one, you might write it in the margin of your Bible.

In John chapter one, verse one, it says this. Now, if we were to read that in the literal Greek, what it would say is in the beginning, the word already existed and the word was with God and the word was God. It speaks of the eternal nature of Christ, the eternal nature of Christ. Now, again, the Gnostics taught that Jesus was one. In a lot of ways, the Gnostics taught that Jesus was one.

In a lot of ways, the Gnostics taught that Jesus was one. It was a long line of creation that eventually became creative himself and created everything that we see today. But that's not what scripture says about Jesus. What scripture says about Jesus is that he is eternal in nature. Do you ever allow your mind to dwell a little bit on the eternal nature of Christ?

It's fun to talk to people about this, especially people that don't believe, because you say, well, Jesus is eternal. And they're like, yeah, eternity future. You're like, no, he's eternal. He has no beginning. What do you mean? He has no beginning. I mean, he's, he's always been. Wait, whoa. What do you mean? He's always been. Well, well, Jesus has always been.

He has no beginning and he has no ending. And they're like, I don't get it. You're like me neither. Isn't that great? Because that's what makes him God, right? That's what makes him the amazing God that he is. Listen, if we could put God in a box and we could completely understand him and we could completely put parameters on him. Listen, he wouldn't be God.

He might be my God. He might not be God because he'd be a God I've created in my image, but he would not be God. But you see, he has the priority in being firstborn over creation because he predates all of creation. But not only is he the firstborn over creation that he predates all of creation. He is the firstborn in position and authority and that he is sovereign over creation.

Right? Okay. So I always like to ask this question. Who all is firstborn in here? Quick show of hands. Firstborns. Okay. You all thought you were the boss forever, right? Right? That's exactly what you thought. Our culture doesn't really understand firstborn like they did at this point in time. I am not the firstborn. I am the secondborn. They call that the youngest, right?

In my family, that means I'm the youngest. And you know what my sister spent most of her time of us growing up trying to do? Convince me that she was the boss, right? Just like all of you older siblings are doing right now. You're convincing your little brothers and sisters. You have to do what I tell you to do because I am the boss, right? Well, in ancient times, that was actually true.

Like when you were the firstborn, you literally had sovereignty over a lot of things because everything was passed to you. You were the one who all of the family authority was passed down to. And so when dad died, the oldest would be the one who would be in authority over the entire family. And so that's the idea, the second idea of sovereignty when it comes to this term firstborn.

It speaks of position of authority and sovereignty. In other words, not only does he predate. Creation, but he is the sovereign hand over creation because he is truly the incomparable Christ. He is the author of salvation. He is the image of the invisible God. He's the firstborn over creation. But then number four, he is the creator. He is the creator. Again, if you're taking notes in the margin of your Bible or on your note sheet, you might

write. John chapter one, verse three, John one, three, because in John chapter one, verse three, it goes on to say, all things were created through him and without him was nothing created that has been created. In other words, without him, none of this would be here. Now, I don't know if you ever allow your imagination to run a little bit wild. I do all the time.

It's one of my strengths and one of my weaknesses when it comes to being a Bible teacher. But always at the beginning of the year, I'm starting in the book of Genesis. And I love to just kind of sit back and think a little bit about what creation must have looked like, right? Do you ever do that? Remember, Jesus is the word. He's the spoken word. He's the visible manifestation of God.

And he was speaking the world into existence. Now, I don't know how that all worked, but remember on day one, God said, God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the earth. The face of the deep spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. So you just have this ball covered in water and some heavens, right?

The evening and the morning were the first day. Day two lights, right? All of a sudden, now we can kind of see some things. And that's all God did on day two. Day three, greater light to rule the day, lesser light to rule the night, right? That was the moon down here. I don't know if you caught that or not. A little, a little smaller sound, a little smaller ball, right?

Right? That's how that word, he created these two lights. And I'm just going, what did it look? Like was all of a sudden, I'd be like, oh, now there were no people there at that point in time, but the angels are going, I need some sunglasses and they didn't know that word. I just need some bright glasses, right? So, so God puts the sun and the moon out there and, but then it gets trippy, right?

Cause then start, God starts like growing plants and things. Now, first you see the mountains coming up and I can't imagine what that would have looked like. Actually, that's not true. I can't imagine what that would have looked like. Them coming up. What's the earth covered in? Water. And so mountains come up and all of a sudden there's water cascading off the side.

These mountains and they, they come shooting up violent earthquakes, maybe of these mountains coming up out of the water. And then all of a sudden God's like, Hey, let's have some plants. Now I always picture this. You ever watch those fast motion videos of a plant growing? That's exactly how I picture it happening. Now God could have just said plants. It was like, right?

I wish it could be that way. I wish I could grow grass like that at my house or, or any plant like that in my house. But I think that God was like, let there be plants like, right? And all of a sudden there's just tree hanging out there. And they're in the air. Angels are like, do it again, Jesus. Right? But then he starts making animals, right? He starts throwing these things out there and he's like, should I make a horse?

And the angels are like, nay. And he's like, that's a great idea. That's what the horses say, right? That's a terrible joke, but that's all I had. And that's exactly what, and then God made the zebra. He's like, this is really going to be funny. And then somebody said, you didn't make a giraffe noise for a service. I don't know how to make a giraffe noise, but can you imagine the day that God made

the giraffe? Like he's just yanking on the head of a. Of a horse. He's like, he won't, he won't come. Like he won't, he won't move. And all of a sudden the giraffe, there's that thing. Like I need something that can eat the top of every tree known to man. I'll make a giraffe. And the angels are like, that's going to look stupid. And he's like, keep your opinion to yourself.

Right? It's just a fascinating thing. And we don't take time to think about how amazing it is that he spoke all of these things into existence. And he created all of these things because he is God and all of the creative genius and all of the creative genius. All of the creative power. And I hope every now and then, I hope every now and then you stop and you go outside and

you don't let anything get in your way. And you just take a moment to soak in all of God's creation. My youngest daughter was always the best at this. Every time two, three year old Nora was just awesome about this. We take her outside and she'd look up at the stars and she kind of tug on my shirt and she'd go, daddy, look at the stars. Because she was just so excited.

And every time she would, I would go, man, that's a good call, kid. Let's just take a minute. Because we don't always take time to soak all that in. Because when we do, we realize if God can create all that, how powerful is he in my life? He's the author of salvation. He's the image of the invisible God. He's the creator of all things. But then number four, he is purpose.

I want you to notice what it says in verse 16. For by him, all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth. Earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him. And I want you to pay attention to those last three words and for him. Listen, one of the greatest truths I've learned in my life, one of the greatest truths that

drives me in my life and has set the course for my life is my understanding that I was created to know God. It is the one purpose for him putting me on earth. The subset of that purpose is also that I would serve him. But I was created to know God. I was created to have relationship with God. Do you know what God did every day with Adam and Eve in the garden?

He walked with him every single day. Why? Because all God wanted to do was have someone to share all of his creation with. And so he created man so that he could have fellowship. And that's what you were created for. And our world is living in frustration right now. Do you know why our world is living in frustration right now? They're living in frustration because they're trying to find the purpose of their life in

everything else. And maybe you're one of those people. Maybe you're a believer and you're living in frustration and you're living in fear and you're living in insecurity because you're trying to find your purpose in everything else. Are you trying to find your purpose in your job today? Like, is that your purpose? Well, why are you on this earth? Well, I'm on this earth to make money and do this job and build things and make the

world. A better place. And you can't make any money. All your buildings fell down and the world's not a better place. And you're going, but I thought that's what I was supposed to do. Maybe it is, but that's not your purpose. Your purpose is not found in your job, because if you try to find your purpose in your job, you will always find yourself purposeless because your purpose is to know God and your

job is part of that purpose. Some of you are trying to find purpose in relationships. You are seeking out who that person is. You're going to be in your life and you think all of your purpose is wrapped up. If I can just find that boy, if I can just find that girl, if my marriage will just be perfect, that's my purpose. I'm here to tell you right now, the reason your marriage isn't perfect is because you

have missed your purpose. Your spouse can never fulfill you. Another relationship will never identify you. Your purpose is found in Christ and your marriage helps fulfill that purpose. You ever thought about the fact that your marriage was intended to make you holy, not make you happy? It's because it's part of our purpose. Some of you are trying to find purpose in your hobbies.

Oh man, if I can just reach this pinnacle in this hobby, right? I used to mow greens on a golf course. I love to mow. And mowing greens is like the Holy Grail, right? Other than if I could mow Wrigley Field. If I could mow Wrigley Field, take me Jesus, life is awesome, right? Like that would be pretty epic. But I used to mow greens and it was always fun. I could just put that sweet.

Each stripe on all of it, do the little curl around it, walk away and go, wow, right? But when I mowed greens in the golf course, I encountered a lot of golfers and that's their hobby. Do you know what I noticed about golfers? They're not happy people, okay? They're just, God love them. If you're a golfer in here this morning, I'm sorry, right? Like maybe you're a lot happier than you appear on the golf course, but I have heard more

profanity-laced tirades come out of golfer's mouth because they missed hitting a tiny, wide, dimpled ball. They'll hit that thing and it goes, golf clubs flying everywhere. I'm just like, yeah, golf club went further than the ball. I'm not trying to point that out to you today, but that's exactly what happened there, right? And we're trying to find our purpose in this hobby.

And instead of viewing it as my place of rest, I have viewed it as my purpose in life. And some of you are trying to find all your purpose and money and things, and you're accumulating stuff and you're accumulating money and you're finding that it's all disappearing and you're going, I'm still not happy. And it's because you're missing your purpose. You were created to know God.

St. Thomas Aquinas once famously said, our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee. And too many people's lives are restless because you're looking for it in everything else in the world. Meanwhile, Jesus is saying, why don't you? Why don't you come to me and I'll take care of all of it. He is our purpose in life. Number six, he is before all things.

He is before all things. What does that mean? Well, before all things speaks once again of his eternal nature, right? And we talked about that already. Must mean that it's important. You know why it was important? Because again, what did the Gnostics teach that Jesus was not eternal? So why did Paul say it a second time? Because it was needed for a second time to point out the eternity.

Eternal nature of God. And now we come to number seven and number seven, maybe one of my favorites. He holds all things together. He holds all things together. Now, I don't know if you've ever tried to put together a piece of furniture, like from anywhere, especially Amazon. You ever bought the cheapest furniture possible off Amazon and you try to put that thing together

and, and when all is said and done, it's basically you. holding 17 parts of this thing together. And you're like, now put the screw in because the directions didn't tell you to put the screw in the first seven steps back. And so it's like, okay, I've got it all together. Put the screw in now. And you're trying to hold it all together, right? Like, I think sometimes that's how we view God is that we think that's what God's doing, right?

That's what Jesus is doing right now. Jesus is like, okay, I think everything's going to be all right. I'm holding it all together. Do you know what scripture says that Jesus is doing to hold all things together? Go with me another place in scripture. Go to Hebrews. Hebrews chapter one. Go to your, I know I'm making you play Bible Olympics this morning. Hang with me. Hebrews

chapter one. And I want you to look at verse three. Hebrews chapter one is kind of like a more expanded version of Colossians. It's really good. Hebrews chapter one, verse three. This is what it says. And he is the radiance of his glory, the exact representation of his nature. Pay attention. And he upholds all things. How? By the word of his power. By the word of his power. Do you know what that means?

That means that Jesus holds everything in our world together simply by speaking the word. Stay together. Man, if I had that kind of power, do you know how many pieces of furniture I put together for people? Stay together. That's what Jesus does. You ever thought about some of the things in our world? So, so our world spends and it spends at the exact right speed. I'm going to

If you're a flat earther in here this morning, once you think about something, the earth spins. How does it? Anyway, the earth spins at just too soon. Nobody laughed at that one. I was kind of serious, but it was also kind of a joke. Like you have a bunch of y'all flat earthers. Yes. And I'm never coming back. So, so the earth, the earth spins at just the right speed. You know

that? And I just, you know why it has to spend at just the right speed? Because if it didn't, what would happen to us? We would fly off of the earth. And so Jesus is holding the earth together and spinning it. And he's going to fly off of the earth. And he's going to fly off of the earth. And he's going to at exactly the right speed. Also, he's spinning us around the sun at just the right speed. From what

I understood from something I read yesterday, he's spinning us around the sun faster than a speeding bullet. That's right. Faster than Superman. He is spinning us around the sun. And as he is spinning the earth in just the right amount of speed and spinning us around the sun at just the right amount of speed, he is also keeping us just the correct distance from the sun. Do you know what

would happen if we were closer to the sun? We would burn up. Now I know in July, if I tell you, you were like, I think he's not working, but, but he holds us just far enough away from the sun so that we don't burn up. If we were a little further away from the sun, do you know what would happen to us? We would freeze. And so he is spinning the earth around the sun, keeping us the

exact distance from the sun. He's doing all of that by the word of his power. Now, do you think he's stressed out about our election in America? No, I don't think he is. I don't think he cares that Donald Trump just got convicted of 11 billion crimes or something like that. I don't think he cares that Joe Biden doesn't know his name. I don't think he cares about any of those

things because none of those things are stressing God out. Why? Because he holds all things together by the word of his power. Now, if God can spin the earth and keep it moving at the exact right speed, if he can keep us just the right amount of sun so that we spin around the sun at the exact right amount of time, and he's not worried about who our president is going to be, do you need to worry about what's going on in your life right now? Do you need to worry about the thing that's

because I know people in here got stuff that's stressing them right now. I know y'all are worried about stuff. You're freaked out about stuff. Do you need to worry about that? Now, listen, I'm not condemning you. I do it all the time, right? I'm the king of worry. I have a plaque in my office that says king of worry first place, right? I'm really good at it, but I'm having to

learn. I don't need to stress about those things because if the God who holds the universe in motion by the word of his mouth is also the sovereign over my life, can I rest in peace? Rest in him? Absolutely. Absolutely. I can rest in him because he holds, listen, all things together. Brothers and sisters, find your rest in a God who is that powerful. He is truly the incomparable Christ. Number eight, he is the head of the church. He is the head of

the church. He is the creator of the church. He is the sustainer. He is the creator of the church. He is the purpose of the church. He is the spiritual life for the church. Now, I taught this. This is not the first time I've taught the book of Colossians. I taught it back in 2016. It's actually the first book that I taught when I was sort of in the process, the transition of taking over here when Pastor Mark was sick. And when I taught this

the first time, I did a really good job of keeping all of my notes. And so confession time, I've been stealing some of those notes. So I've been stealing some of those notes. And so I've been going back to look at some of my notes from last night. And I'm just going to say, I didn't quote someone on this. So either 36-year-old Ryan was really on it, or I don't know. Anyway, so I wrote

this down again. It says, the head of the church is not a man or a movement. It is Christ. We must take our cues from him and his word, not any man, not any movement, not any method, new or old. Brothers and sisters, Christ, is the head of the church. The head of the church is not a man, right? Like Chuck Smith was never the head of the church. The Pope is not the head of the church, right? There's no man that's the head

of the church. There's no woman that's the head of the church. Christ is to be the head of the church. He is to be the one that we take our cues from. He is the one who is to give direction and vision. He is the one who sets his course. And as he does so, he does it through his word because he has revealed to us exactly what it's supposed to look like. But he is the one who is the one who

is the head of the church. If Christ is not head of the church, one of two things will happen. Either A, that church will fall apart, or B, that church will fall into apostasy. I promise you those are the two things that happen to every church that does not have Christ at the head. You say, but Ryan, some of these churches that I would consider apostate have been around for 1500 years.

I know that. That should not concern you. Well, does that mean that that church is actually right? No. What did Jesus say would happen? What did Jesus say would happen? When he told that parable to his disciples, remember the parable, the wheat and the tares? He said, one guy, one night, a farmer went out to sow seed. And one night, a villain came out and sowed tares amongst the seed. And all of a sudden,

they started coming up. And the worker said, what should we do? Should we go remove the tares? He says, no, it'll damage the wheat. At the harvest time, we will separate the tares from the wheat. The wheat will go and the storehouses and the tares will be cast out and burned. Just because a church sticks around where Jesus isn't the head doesn't mean Jesus is okay with it. It just means it's apostate and he's

reserving it for judgment because Christ is to be the head of the church. Number nine, he is the first born from the dead. He is the first born from the dead. First of all, because he is the first to be resurrected. Now, I want to tell you something. There are many people in the Bible that were raised from the dead. That's different than being resurrected because those people that were raised

from the dead eventually died again. To be resurrected is to be given a brand new body because you are raised incorruptible. Christ, when he died, was wearing a body of flesh that was subject to all the decay of humanity. But when he was resurrected, he had a brand new body that was no longer subject. He was subject to the things of this earth. And so in that way, he became the first born from the

dead. Other places in scripture refer to him as the first fruits of the resurrection. And so he is our picture of what resurrection is going to look like. But it's also a reminder that he is the beginning of spiritual life for the church. And because of that, he should take first place in everything because he is the one who gives us life. He is the first born from the dead.

Number 10, it says, and in him, all the fullness dwells. I want to read verse 19 to you because it's a really important verse, super important verse. For it was the father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him. What does that mean? Well, that word fullness means the total of divine power and power. And so it's a really important verse. And so it's a really important

attribute. Let me read that to you again. The word fullness means the total of divine power and attributes. What does that mean? It means that he is 100% God, that he is 100% God. When it says that in him, all the fullness should dwell, the word dwell means have a permanent dwelling place. And so he is 100% God. And what we realize is that this is a really key

verse, especially based on some cults that are going on in the world today that would say that Jesus can't be God. He was just another created being. And the issue that they have is that they say, well, you worship multiple gods. No, we worship one God who is in three forms. It's called the triune Godhead. It is seen throughout scripture. The first time that you see it

is in Genesis. In the very beginning, it says that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was without form and void. And the spirit was without form and void. The spirit of God was hovering over the face of the water and the Lord spoke. That's the Trinity right there. You have God, the father who is creating, who is God himself. You have the spirit

of God hovering over the face of the waters. And then you have the fact that God spoke. That's the word. That's the manifestation of God. That's the Trinity. When you keep following down, you come into the book of Deuteronomy and you come to what's called the great Shema. It's the blessing or not, not the blessing. It's the blessing of God. It's the blessing of God. It's the blessing of

the hero Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. You say, Ryan, that means that there's one God. Absolutely. There's one God, but that word one means a plurality in unity. For instance, you are one congregation. And even though there's lots of you, you still make one. That's the next place where we see the Trinity show up in the Bible. There's lots of other spots, but that's

one of the main ones. And then when you come into the new Testament, you see Jesus as he is, as he is baptized. Remember what happened at the baptism of Jesus? At the baptism of Jesus, you have the son who is 100% God being baptized. So he is identifies with us. And when he's brought up out of the water, it says the spirit of God came upon him like a dove and a voice spoke from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. The triune

Godhead. It's really hard for us to understand. It's a really difficult theological thing to take in. Somebody just came to me the other day and said, I was reading John and I don't understand the Trinity. I'm like, welcome to the club, right? Because it's a really hard thing to understand. But the beautiful thing is God doesn't ask us to understand it. He just asks us to believe it.

But Jesus is 100% God. Let me give you a couple of images from nature that teaches about the triune Godhead. The first image I'll give you is the egg, right? So an egg has three parts. You have the shell, you have the yolk, and you have the white. Those are all three part of an egg, but they're also all three. Egg, right? It's a little bit of a lesser understanding or a lesser picture of the

Trinity. The greatest picture of the Trinity that I can come up with is H2O. H2O, what we commonly refer to as water, right? Water can take on three different forms. It can take on the form of a solid. It can take on the form of a liquid, and it can take on the form of a gas. In its liquid form, it becomes what we call water that we drink. Refreshes us on a hot day, right?

In its solid form, it becomes ice. Ice that we put into that water that even more refreshes us on a really hot day. We go, hmm, water. But then it can also be a gas that we refer to as steam, or sometimes in Kansas, we call it humidity, right? Which causes us to want to take a drink of water with some ice in it to refresh us and make us go, ah, all three H2O, even though they're all three

separate things. Plurality in you. Plurality. Does that make sense? And so when he says here that it pleased the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell, it means that this Jesus, this incomparable Christ, is also 100% God. Why do I care? Because he's God, and he is God's revelation to us. Number 11, last one. He is the reconciler of all things. The reconciler of all things.

The reconciler of all things. I want you to take note of what verse 20 has to say. And through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross. Through him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. So you notice the fact that when we talk about this reconciler, he used the phrase through him twice. Let me read it to you again. It's important to pay attention to. I'm going to

tell you why in just a second. And through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through him. And through him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. Through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross. Through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven. Why does he take the time to point out

twice that the only person that reconciled us is Jesus Christ? Because the Gnostics taught that there were angelic mediators that assisted in the reconciling process. They taught that there was another mediator that we needed to go through besides Christ. And there is no other mediator to bring reconciliation between us and the Lord Jesus Christ. And there is no other mediator to bring reconciliation between us

and God than Jesus Christ. Which is why we are told elsewhere in scripture that there is only one mediator between God and man, and it's Jesus. He is the one mediator, and he is the one who reconciled us. That word reconcile is a beautiful word. It means to restore to former harmony. That's what the word reconcile means, to restore to former harmony. Do you know when God created

Adam and Eve, and they were in the same place, they were in the same place, they were in the same place, in the garden, everything was perfect. And everything was in perfect harmony. I can't imagine what it would have been like to live at that point in time. I know we'll get to see it again someday in a new heaven and a new earth, but I just can't imagine what that would have been like for everything just to be in perfect harmony. And everything was great

until Adam and Eve decided that they didn't want to follow God. They instead wanted to be like God. And when they decided that they wanted to be like God, that harmony was destroyed. Remember, the first thing that they took note of is that they were naked, meaning that they were out of harmony with each other and out of harmony with God. And then they decided to make coverings for

themselves, further exacerbating the fact that they were out of harmony with God, because now they were hiding from God. And then God showed up and they tried to lie to God by saying it was somebody else's fault. And everything was out of harmony. As a matter of fact, God had to kick them out of the garden. Because harmony had been destroyed. Peace had been destroyed. They were now at war with God

because of sin. And when Jesus came, when Jesus came, he restored the harmony. He brought back that restoration of harmony between us and God. That was the first aspect of the restoration, is that you and I were reconciled to him when we put our faith in him. Harmony was restored in our relationship. But you may notice that the whole world is not in harmony right now, right? Like, matter of fact,

I would say we're all pretty well out of harmony. Out of tune is exactly how I would say the world is right now. So that would be the last thing that gets restored. But this is exactly what Jesus has done for us, is he has restored the harmony by reconciling us through his blood, through the cross, as the one mediator between God and man. Because he is the one who brings

harmony to our lives. Brothers and sisters, he is truly the incomparable Christ, the preeminent one, because he takes first place in everything. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Amen. Well, it's Communion Sunday, and it looks like we're about to have some kids lined up out

here. So I'll give them just a moment to get ready. I'm going to give them a little bit of a moment to come in before we talk over communion. Kenny's not one of the kids, but he is coming in. I'm just kidding. I love you, man. If you would keep an eye out for your tiny person coming through the door, because they do usually get that look on their face. Like maybe you really did leave.

If I could invite the worship team to come on up too. We had a spill. It's okay. They're coming. Here they come. Come on in, kiddos. Hey, Killian. I think she's back there, buddy. On the back wall. See her? Okay. Checking out the situation. Happens. Hey, listen to the best of us, right? That's why we need Jesus.

All right. So this morning is Communion Sunday. Remember the thing that reconciles us to Christ is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. And that's what we do when we come together to take communion is we celebrate that sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. And so inside of these little cups, or a couple of elements, there's some juice and there's a cracker in and of themselves,

nothing magical about them, nothing spiritual about them, but what they represent has great power. Because on that last great night of the feast, Jesus took that bread and he broke it. And he said, this is my body, which is broken for you. And we are reminded that that's exactly what he did for us, that he allowed his body to be broken for us. As we're told in the book of Isaiah,

chapter 53, by his stripes, we are healed. And then he took the cup and he said, this is the cup of the new covenant. And he said, this is the cup of the new covenant. And he said, this is the covenant in my blood. As often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me. And so every time we do this, we're told in scripture, we declare the death of Jesus. And we tell everybody in the

world, the one place of hope that we have is in this sacrifice. And we sort of glory in it for, for this time. And we remember that this is the one thing that's made us right with him. And so we're told to do so in a worthy manner, because this is spiritual stuff we're doing here. So if you're here this morning and you're not a, believer in Jesus Christ, I would encourage you to do one of two things. Either one, don't take

part in this, or two, make today the day that you put your faith in Jesus. And as I always tell you, it's as simple as you confessing your sin to the Lord and asking him to come into your life to make you brand new, asking him to become your savior. And once you do that, once you've put your faith in him, and you too are born again, and this meal is for you. If you're here this morning and you're a believer in Jesus Christ, we want to make sure that our hearts are clean before the Lord. I was

teaching in 2 Timothy yesterday, and he said that there's two different types of vessels in every house. There's vessels for honor, and there's vessels for dishonor. Cleanse yourselves that you may be a vessel for honor. Well, how do we cleanse ourselves? Well, scripture tells us that if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then the blood of Jesus Christ continually cleanses us from all sin.

And so as they sing this last song, and as the ushers get ready to hand out all the elements, I would ask you to allow the Lord to come into your life. And as you do that, I would ask you to search your heart. Listen, sin doesn't keep you from being saved as a believer in Jesus Christ. You don't lose your salvation, but it has broken fellowship. It's broken your fellowship between

you and God. And that fellowship needs restored, and that restoration comes through confession. So as the Lord lays those areas of sin on your heart, then you need to confess those things to him and allow that forgiveness to come in. And so I'm going to invite the ushers to come down and hand out the elements. And as you receive your elements, if you would please stand, and we will partake together.

Father, we come to you now. And Lord, I praise you for your body that was broken for us. Lord, the beatings that you endured. Lord, having all of the sin put upon you, so that our sins could be forgiven, so that we could be redeemed. Lord, praise you for who you are. That you, the author, of salvation, the firstborn over creation would do this for us. Father, I thank you for your blood

that was shed, your blood that is enough to cover all of our sins. And Lord, that you covered those sins in that blood so that we no longer have to deal with them. Father, we praise you for your sacrifice. Lord, keep us ever in mind of what you've done for us, and may our lives reflect the reconciliation that we have, not only with you, but with each other.

The blood of Jesus Christ, in Jesus' name. Amen. Hey, just take one second. Look around you. This is family, right? We're partaking of this as family, because that's exactly who we are. We are the family of God, with one thing that bonds us together, the blood of Jesus Christ. Isn't it a beautiful thing? Let's partake together. And if you'd bow with me one more time.

Father, be with us as we go out from here. Lord, may your word continue, stand strong. May your word do its work in our hearts. Lord, marinate us in it so we come out smelling just like you. And so, Father, bless us as we go out from here. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.