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[0:00] Well, this morning, well, this week is Thanksgiving week. Going to be a lot of traveling. There's going to be a lot of big meals, family getting together and just getting reacquainted from the year from the virus, if that's been the case, getting back together again.

[0:19] A lot of things going on during Thanksgiving time. Of course, we know the real reason for Thanksgiving is just to give thanks. And we know that's not the spiritual thing, was not the primary thing, probably when Thanksgiving was started.

[0:34] But then again, it is, isn't it? Because all thanks, what are we thanking? We're thanking God. So keep that in mind this week as we go.

[0:45] And with that in mind, I'm going to do a thing on the Psalms also today. Because I think the Psalm 100 is a great Psalm as far as Thanksgiving is concerned.

[0:56] And so if you turn to Psalm 100, if you would, please. By the way, can everybody hear me okay? John, can you hear me? Okay. Okay. Now, the 100th Psalm has this verse title, A Psalm of Praise or of Thanksgiving.

[1:21] And to this description, it will answer. There is not a single mournful note in this composition. God is praised from the beginning to the end. And all the earth is called upon to join in the blessing and in thanking him.

[1:35] It has been suggested that it is probably written to be chanted by a festival procession as it approached and as the people entered the temple. And, of course, that was back in the biblical days.

[1:48] So, verse 1. Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands. Make a joyful shout to the Lord.

[1:59] Unlike all the several previous Psalms, Psalms 100 does not begin with a declaration of God's sovereignty or character. It begins with a simple and direct exhortation to all lands to praise God with a joyful shout.

[2:15] This is a call to the nations extending far beyond Israel's borders. This was for all the lands. It's to come and shout with a joyful thanksgiving.

[2:26] The original word signifies a glad shout such as all loyal subjects give when their king appears among them. Our happy God should be worshipped by a happy people.

[2:39] A cheerful spirit is in keeping with his nature. God does not like sad people. He likes cheerful people. All the lands.

[2:51] The nations must recognize who the Lord is. He is God. He is Yahweh. By whose grace and blessings his people exist.

[3:03] To the nations who are invited to sing hymns to the Lord and to worship him. Verse 2. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before the presence with singing.

[3:16] Serve the Lord with gladness. The whole earth is invited to serve the Lord. The palmists likely had in mind the service of worship or temple rituals. But the principle applies today by any service that we go to.

[3:33] The same principle applies today as it did back then. Of course they had all the festivals, the temples, and all those things back there. And that's where they did a lot of their singing and praising God at that point.

[3:45] Come before his presence with singing. As in many places in the Psalms. Praise is expressed in song. Singing is not the only way to praise God.

[3:55] But is one of the chief ways to praise him. And I think it's pretty evident that just before any church service. What do we do? We sing songs.

[4:07] Sing songs about God. His character. And his love. And his grace. And that's how we worship. And that's how we praise God. Is singing songs. Verse number three.

[4:19] Know that the Lord, he is God. It is he who has made us. And not we ourselves. We are his people. And the sheep of his pasture.

[4:32] The praise that comes to God from his people. And all the land should be mindful. We have many reasons to worship Yahweh. The covenant of God of Israel. And the reasons begin with the one recognition.

[4:44] And that is. He is God. He is God. He is the creator. He is God. He is he who has made us.

[4:56] The next reason to worship God is an appropriate recognition of his work as that creator. And folks, all we have to do is look outside.

[5:08] And know the creation that God has done. And look right here. At the creation that he has done. Right here as we see our faces. Verse number four.

[5:22] Enter into the gates with thanksgiving. And into his courts with praise. Be thankful to him. And bless his holy name. Now the promise pictures the people of God from all the lands.

[5:38] Entering through the gates. And to the courts of the temple. Now we don't have that today. But we have church services going over all the land today. In every country.

[5:50] There's some kind of worship services probably going on today. And that's what we're talking about here. Where do I go here?

[6:02] Okay. Public worship. Publicly worship God. And when you come to the house of prayer. Be thankful that you have such a privilege. Is to come here and to worship God today.

[6:14] And when you enter his courts. Praise him for the permission to come. And also do the praise and the worship. Because it is a pleasure. That we can come and we can worship God.

[6:26] Every day of the week. But especially as a group of believers. We come and we worship together. And that is a great thing. Into his courts with praise. Thanks and praise merge together.

[6:38] As God's people are thankful. And bless his name. It is as though the gates of the city. The courts of the sanctuary. Were suddenly thrown open. And all the lands are called to serve Jehovah.

[6:50] To know that he is God. To enter into that relationship with him. Verse number five. And this is an important verse.

[7:02] Verse. For the Lord God is good. His mercy is everlasting. And his truth endures to all generations.

[7:16] For the Lord is good. Thanks and praise are right. In the recognition of God's goodness. He is good in all his plans. Good in his grace. You and to me.

[7:27] Not as our God. Not so. Our God. The good God of the Bible is. And always has been. Good. We are not good. But God of the Bible.

[7:38] It's always good. And of course we know that. Our goodness. Came about because of what Jesus Christ. Did at the cross. Later on.

[7:50] So his mercy is everlasting. The brief psalm ends with. God's unending mercy. And truth. These are everlasting reasons. To give thanks and praise to God.

[8:02] So as we are receivers of mercy. We must also give. Be givers of thanks. Of all the mercies that we receive. Every day of our lives.

[8:12] Every day we get up. We need to be thankful. For those type of things. So. Keep these things in mind. This week of Thanksgiving. It's a time of great.

[8:25] Fellowship. With all of those. But we also. Also. Need to remember. To be thankful. For the one who created. And give us reason. For all these things.

[8:36] That we will be doing. This week. So. Thank you. My message this morning. Is going to be. On Colossians. So if you want to turn to the book of Colossians. We'll be reading.

[8:50] Chapter. Starting in chapter one. And. I don't know how far we'll get. But that's fine. It doesn't matter how far we get. But Colossians shows. Jesus Christ. Divine characteristics.

[9:03] And if you want to look at. The book of Colossians. That's going to be the main emphasis. That you're going to see. The characteristics of God. And. His son. Jesus Christ.

[9:14] Who is. God. The creator. The one who. From whom all things consist. The all powerful one. The master of time and space.

[9:25] The head of the church. He is shown to be the one who becomes our life. It is him. We are rooted in. And therefore it is him. It is from his life that we divine.

[9:37] Derive our nourishment. It is true that you are what you eat. And we are eating the bread of life. And drinking the living water. Which gives us revealing. And abundant life.

[9:50] We are rooted. We can't be rooted. Unless you. Read God's word. And know what God's word says. To be spiritually rooted.

[10:00] You have to have that knowledge. The full knowledge. Of what God and Christ has done. And we do that of course. Through his word. That is life that is only found in Christ.

[10:11] Because he is the source of life. And therefore real life. Can only come. From him. The option outside of Christ. Is death. And that is why Christ has become. Our life.

[10:23] And for. If we want to live life. We want to be with Christ. We need to know that life himself. And that is the only. Only by knowing. The truth. Himself.

[10:35] So Christ. Is. Everything. And we need to think about that. How amazing it is to know. That the fullness of the deity. Lives in bodily form.

[10:46] And we see that in Colossians 2.9. This is almost an incomprehensible truth. But a wonderful reality. This fullness is what God wants to give us.

[10:57] He wants to give us his entire life. His entire righteousness. And this he gave to us. By giving us his son. He has given us the same love.

[11:09] That he loved his son. And from eternity. That is eternal life. Eternal fellowship. As Jesus said. That the love which you love.

[11:21] May. Me. May be in them. Other words. That the love which you love. May be in them. Christ's love. Needs to be in us.

[11:33] Our new life in Christ. Christ changes our interests. When we accept Jesus Christ. We welcome interesting. We become interested in the things. Pertaining to life.

[11:44] Rather than the things of the world. Which pertain to death. We now have the fragrance of Christ. And it is this fragrance. That we draw near to. To God.

[11:55] And if you draw near to God. He will draw near to you. As Colossians teaches us. Let's put on. The new self. And draw near to God.

[12:07] And. The Colossians has. Four chapters. And we're going to see that the main emphasis. In all these chapters.

[12:18] Is the fact that. Number one. God is. God. And he is good. He is a creator. And. His son.

[12:31] Is a mirror of God. And that's because. He is not mere man. But he is God. And he teaches.

[12:43] Us. The reality of what Christ. Has done for us. In our life. When he hung on that cross. All the things. That happened. At that particular moment.

[12:54] And we get to see that. And. In all Pauline's epistles. We see this. They see this. Time and time again. And. Why do we see that? You know.

[13:05] The apostle Paul. When he. God assigned him. To go out. On these journeys. To teach to the Gentiles. He went out.

[13:16] To all the country. That particular country. Around Jerusalem. At that point. And Syria. And. Around that area. And on his journeys. He would go into these cities.

[13:27] And he would preach. Christ crucified. The saving grace. That God gives us. When we believe upon Christ. And these people. Some of them were Jews.

[13:38] Because he always went to the Jewish church first. So. Yes. He was teaching to the Jews. Jesus Christ. So. Crucified. He is the one. That you.

[13:50] Crucified. And he died for a reason. To give you the grace. The peace. That comes with it. And he went from city to city. Doing this. He came back.

[14:02] He. Went to another. Missionary trip. He took three missionary trips. During his journeys. And he's seen a lot of different country. He's seen a lot of different cities. That he went to.

[14:14] But he preached. Christ crucified. The whole time. And one of the reasons. That we have these letters. That Paul wrote. Is the fact. That when he left these cities.

[14:26] Some of them didn't have churches. Like we have here today. That were already organized. He's using Timothy. Later on. To do that. Because he's.

[14:37] I'm going to be leading here soon. I need you to go out. And start organizing these churches. And teaching. What I've been teaching. So that happens at that point. But before that.

[14:47] He would go to these cities. And he would leave. And then. He would hear. Things coming from. Other people. Who may have been at that city. Well Paul. They're teaching this now.

[15:00] These Jews have come back in. And they've been teaching. These doctrines that. They knew from years before. And they're not following now. They're going back. So a lot of times. That's why the Paul.

[15:10] The apostle Paul. Wrote these letters. All the epistles. Is to. Get back with the people. And to ensure them. That. Your salvation. Was through Jesus Christ.

[15:22] At the cross. All these works. That you've done. All your life. And what these new people. Coming into town. Are telling you. You need to go back to. Is hogwash. Believe upon Jesus Christ.

[15:35] And the fact that he. Died for the sins. Of the world. And why. Why I was there. You accepted that. You believed that.

[15:47] And through faith. You took him. Into your life. And we were talking about that. This morning. When Roger was speaking. It's so easy. For other people. To come in.

[15:58] And to get these people. To go back. They teach these doctrines. That was. That they had. Before Paul. Started preaching. The gospel of grace.

[16:08] Before. Christ. Even died on the cross. These are the things. You need to do. To be in a good standing. With Christ. You need to do this. That. That. And this. Be baptized.

[16:20] Be circumcised. And. As Paul would leave. Other people. Would come into these cities. And then they would start. Teaching these type of things. So that's why the apostle Paul.

[16:32] Wrote the letters. That he wrote. He always wanted to go back. And tell the people. Don't. Go. Back. Don't let this confusion. Get into your congregation.

[16:46] Because it would be detrimental. To the whole city. If everybody falls back. To the way it was. And. That's exactly why he wrote the letters. In some of these cities. When Paul went to. He had trouble preaching this message.

[16:58] You know. How many times was he. Whipped. Or stoned. Yeah. I guess Paul wasn't stoned. But. No. He may have been stoned. At the one city. Where they threw him out. On the side of the road.

[17:09] And left him for dead. They stoned him there. Didn't they? He was just lucky. He survived that. So. Paul had. Problems. Bringing this message forth. But he did get it.

[17:20] Brought forth. And. People. In every city. Believed. Through faith. Of what God. And Jesus Christ. Did. At that cross. So.

[17:32] He writes the letters. To remind them of that. And. Sometimes. He has to write. Two letters. Because.

[17:42] Hey. You people aren't getting it at all. Are you? You're going back. You're letting these people. Change you. And sometimes. We don't have. The third book.

[17:54] Of. Corinthians. But. From what scripture says. I believe there was. A third letter. That had to go back. To Corneth. Because.

[18:06] They kept falling back. People kept coming in. And. These people. Would. Catch on to that. And they just weren't living. The correct. Christian life.

[18:16] And when Paul gave out. The Christian message. It was more than just saying. Jesus Christ saved you. And now you're a new person. Man.

[18:27] That's great. That's good. Hey. I'm a new person today. I go out tomorrow. And I live. Just like. I did. The day before. I became saved. I know.

[18:39] We don't get changed overnight. And all the bad habits. That we have. But. The reason for salvation. Is. That we change. That we have that new life. And with new life.

[18:49] Comes. A new you. That means when you go out. To work tomorrow. There's a different attitude. That means when your kids.

[19:03] To come to you. Some of their problems. That they have. You have a new attitude. You may not be the. Yelling. Type parent. That used to be. You may be thinking. There may be a better way.

[19:14] To teach these kids. Instead of just. Yelling at them. So. We're supposed to change. In all ways. And that's what the apostle. Paul was doing. When. He wrote these letters.

[19:26] So. Let's get to. To Colossians. Colossians. Colossians was a city. In Asia Minor. Which is now. Modern day Turkey.

[19:36] Paul went there. To preach. No. I'm going to take that back. What am I saying? Paul didn't go there. To preach. Paul had never been there.

[19:49] He had never been there. But there. Were Christians there. In Colossae. And we're going to see. How that happened. But. The city of Colossae. Was known.

[19:59] Well known for. Especially in rich. Dark cloth. That was made there. And it was like a port. Close to the ocean. Close where they could get to the ships. And stuff. And they had a trade city there.

[20:11] That was just like a lot of the cities. Along the ocean. And the waterfronts. Around that part of the country. And it was basically. In dark cloth. That they had this trade.

[20:22] They had some earthquakes. And just businesses competing. And all these different things. The city. After a while. Came and just kind of disappeared.

[20:33] And there is no city today. Of Colossae. Except for the. Tail. That is there. And. When we're talking about a tail. It's just a mound.

[20:44] Where city after city. Over the years. Have been buried. And there's just a little bit. Sticking up. That shows. Hey. There is. Probably where Colossae was.

[20:56] So Colossae is not there. Anymore. As far as a city. That we would know. As a city today. And as it was. Back. Then. At that point. So the author of this letter.

[21:07] Is no doubt about who the author is. Is it? Because it says it. It says. The apostle Paul. As he attests to. In verse one. The Colossae letter. Is well known. For its teaching.

[21:18] About the treasure. Of Christ. In you. The hope of glory. Through the indwelling. Holy Spirit. The might. The power. The supremacy. And the sufficiency.

[21:28] Of Christ. The creator. And sustainer. Are detailed. In vivid fashion. New believers. Can study Colossians. To better understand. Just who Christ is.

[21:40] And long time believers. Can keep coming back. To this book. To get back. To the roots. Of their faith. In Jesus Christ. Christ. And.

[21:51] If we get down to. Verse seven. We never read. In the book of Acts. That Paul visited this church. There's nowhere.

[22:01] In the book of Acts. Through their travels. Where Paul says. I stopped. At the city. Of Colossae. And the city.

[22:12] Of Colossae. Was down there. In the. The lower part. Of the region. Around. Well. I forget the names. Of the cities. Down there now. I don't have my map. With me.

[22:23] But. Paul probably. Went by there. When he was going. To Ephesus. Because that. If. The way he traveled. He would have gone by. Or close to there.

[22:33] Going to Ephesus. And of course. So. Paul never visited. But he did get. Feedback. From other people. That hey.

[22:45] There's a city. In Colossae. That has a church there. And they believe. Just the things. That you've been talking about. So how. Did these people.

[22:56] Hear about this. All these teachings. That Paul had been doing. Well I'm sure. Paul's been in Ephesus. Ephesus before. He's been to some of the other cities.

[23:07] And. These people. These. This is not a. Very big territory. I mean you could get from city to city. Fairly simply. Even if you were walking. Within a day or two.

[23:19] And evidently. Some of the. Some people. Had been in. One of these cities. Where Paul was speaking. And this message of grace. Was. Resonating in his mind.

[23:30] And he went back to Colossae. And he said. Folks. And they were probably. Beaten in houses. This is where churches mostly matter.

[23:41] Or in the synagogue. And he says. I heard a message from Paul. The apostle Paul. And folks. This is what that message was. He was. He was preaching.

[23:52] Christ. On that cross. Is everything. Everything changed. He died on that cross. To take away. All these things. That we've been.

[24:03] Learning. All our life. That you have to do this. And that. And said. It's by grace. That he died. For the sins of the world.

[24:15] That's why we've been doing. All these things. That we're talking about. Because we had to do them. So that we could. Come before God. And say. God. We've done these. These things are. There.

[24:25] So these sacrifices. Were done. So that they can. Can be given. Forgiven. And even in it. In those old days. It was like. On a weekly basis.

[24:37] They would go back. Weekly. And for the grand finale. Once a year. The high priest. Could go to the holy of holies.

[24:50] And tell God. The fact that his people. The sins. And all the things. That they have done. And lay them before. God. And that holy of holies. To know that they would be forgiven.

[25:03] For that year. So that's what this whole thing. About sacrifices. And the way that. The Jews believed. Came about. So. But this man.

[25:14] That created this church. Was given this new information. From Paul. And this man's name. Was. Ephraim. Just as you learned it from Ephraim.

[25:28] Our beloved fellow bond servant. Who is a faithful servant of Christ. On our behalf. And he also informed us. Of your love. In the spirit. So.

[25:39] Ephraim. Went back to this church. He started this church. By telling them. That. Jesus Christ. Was a bond servant. On our behalf. And he also informed us.

[25:51] Of the love. In the spirit. When you accept Jesus Christ. Into your life. You get a new life. And what is that new life? It's the spirit.

[26:02] That comes. Within your heart. And that's what he was telling. These people. And that's what. The apostle Paul. Heard later. Ephraim. Ephraim. Ephraim was a chosen instrument.

[26:13] For the evangelation. Evangelation. Of the Colossians. He eventually. Remained among the saints. And cared for them. As a godly pastor afterwards. But he found himself.

[26:24] Hard pressed. By the ministries. Of Satan. Who were bent upon misleading. Those young believers. Well. Where did that come from? Every letter he writes.

[26:35] The same thing happens. Time and time again. They accept Christ. They start living this new life. But then. Somebody comes in. And tries to.

[26:46] Bring something new. Misleading them again. And. Can you imagine the confusion. That you would have. We would have today. If we came in.

[26:57] To service this morning. And somebody got. Got up. And started talking about. Baptism. About any of these sacrifices. That were done. All these things. That you have to do. Yeah.

[27:09] We would be confused. Wouldn't we? Hopefully. We would have. A true enough knowledge. Of the scriptures. To say. And rebuke that person. And say. That is not the teachings.

[27:20] That we go by. And of course. Back then. It was kind of hard. They were new believers. And as new believers. We're just children. Babes. And taking milk. So it's kind of hard.

[27:32] For a new believer. To. Take all. Take in all this new information. And say. I'm going to start living. My new life. But then. Somebody comes in. And says. Oh. Well.

[27:43] I know what the apostle Paul said. But. You probably need to do this too. I mean. It's not that simple folks. It can't be that simple. Is it? It can't be.

[27:57] So. We need to start doing. This. That. And all these other things. So this is what happened. There in. Colossae.

[28:11] And we don't know this. But. Ephraim must have went to Rome. When Paul was there in prison. And. To tell Paul. About the heresies. That were creeping into the church. These false teachers.

[28:22] Took Christ off the throne. And he died. His being. The headship. Of the church. To help answer these heresies. Paul sent this letter. Writing especially. About the preeminence.

[28:33] And deity of Christ. For Christ. Is truly. God. Paul identifies himself. As an apostle. Of Jesus Christ.

[28:45] This. Is what gives him. The authority. To teach. And where do we get this? If you go back to the gospels. Was there apostles.

[28:56] During the time. Of the gospels. Let's. Let's clarify it a little bit. The beginning of the gospels. No. There wasn't. What did Jesus have.

[29:08] Following him. It wasn't apostles. It was disciples. It was disciples. They were learning. From. Christ. Christ. They were there.

[29:20] They were soaking up. Jesus's words. They were absorbing. All this information. That Jesus was giving him. And after a time. He then set them down aside.

[29:32] And he says. Guys. I've been with you now. For so long. I've been teaching you. It's now time. For you to step up. I'm giving you some authority.

[29:44] To go out with now. You now have the authority. To go out and teach. You're not a disciple anymore. You're done with the learning. Now go out.

[29:55] And teach. And of course. We know the apostle Paul. Got the name of the apostle Paul. For the same reason. He didn't do it. Like the disciples.

[30:06] He wasn't there. When Jesus was there. But he went up into the heavens. Or wherever he went. With Jesus. And Jesus taught him. What to say.

[30:17] Because. He had something else. For the apostle Paul. To say. Didn't he? The apostle Paul. Was to go out. And preach. Christ crucified. The grace of God.

[30:29] Is given to you. Through. That death on the cross. And not only to you. Jews. But also.

[30:41] To all mankind. And that was God's purpose. To begin with. God wanted. Everybody. To know his love. And to know his grace.

[30:52] And we see the whole Bible. Kind of leads up. To this thing. If you go through. The Old Testament. And start coming up. To the New Testament. Into the Pauline epistles. You see how God. Wanted.

[31:04] All the people. Now he may have. Chosen nation of Israel. We can't deny that. But that was one of the commands. He gave to Israel. Wasn't it? He wanted them.

[31:15] To get all this information. And give it. To. To the Gentiles. That was his primary. Thought. His future thought. Was this to go.

[31:26] Was go out to all men. But it didn't go out to all men. It just stayed. With the nation of Israel. And we see time and time. Again. How they. They soaked in the word.

[31:37] They lived the word. And then. They just dropped it. And failed. And that's pretty much what. If you follow the Old Testament. We see that. Getting the information. Losing the information.

[31:49] And God. With his judgment. Upon him. And at their appropriate time. He sent his son. Into this world. And of course. We get the benefits of that.

[32:02] So. These people. Okay.

[32:12] Also there in chapter one. All in all these passages. We see a clear application. Paul said that he was praying. Always for you. We too. Should soak the ministry. With. The ministry.

[32:23] Which we do. For the Lord. In prayer. At the beginning. We be. We may be praying. For unnamed people. Or places. For fruit. To spring up. Somewhere.

[32:33] But we. Don't know where. Later. When God does. His work. We can give a name. And a place. To those prayers. And again. Paul. He didn't know about Colossae.

[32:44] But he. He was giving out. This information. He was giving it out. So somebody picked it up. And took it on. So somebody else. Could. Get the benefits.

[32:54] From it. Paul says in verse four. Since we have heard. Of your faith. Here he is more evidence. That Paul. Had not directly. Directly visited church. He had only read.

[33:05] Or heard. Of their faith. And not seen it. But this verse shows. That Paul. Clearly. Care deeply. For the believers. From all. Over.

[33:15] The globe. Because. He was preaching. A message. He may be in. Ephesus today. And he was preaching. To the people in Ephesus. But he also knew. That. Those people.

[33:27] Would go back. And tell other people. And I guess. We get this primarily. If we go back. To the first part of Acts. Don't we? It was a national holiday. And all the Jews.

[33:38] From all over the country. Came into Jerusalem. For one reason. And this was at. Pentecost. And what happened that day. Just changed the world. It changed the world.

[33:51] Because people started believing. And as people believed. They went out. To all these places. That they came from. And they started giving out. This message. Now this message.

[34:02] May not be true. To what we have today. But it was new message. Wasn't it? Because before. The Jews saying. We didn't crucify Christ.

[34:15] The emperor. Crucified Christ. Even though. They made it up. For the. Emperor would have to. But now. Peter was telling them. You.

[34:26] Crucified. Christ. You. Out there. The ones I'm talking to. You're the one. To put Christ. Jesus Christ. On that cross. And this is. The new message. That Jesus Christ.

[34:37] Died on that cross. To take away. The sins of the world. So this was new information. That they were getting. And they dispersed it. As they went out. So things were changing.

[34:49] Even in the synagogues. People had this new information. But. As the apostle Paul. Was preaching. He also knew. That what he was giving out. Would go out.

[35:00] To other people. And that's exactly. Why he was doing it. I want to skip down.

[35:17] To. To. Verses 15. Matter of fact. I want to read it. Because these are so important. These verses. 15 to 20. Christ's character.

[35:34] 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.

[35:46] Visible and invisible. Whether thrones. Or dominions. Or rulers. Or authorities. All things have been created. Through him. And for him. He is.

[35:57] Before all things. And in him. All things hold together. He is also. Head of the body. The church. And he is the beginning. The firstborn.

[36:08] From the dead. So that he himself. Will come to have. First place. At everything. For it was. The father's good pleasure. For all the fullness.

[36:18] To dwell in him. And through him. To reconcile. All things. To himself. Having made peace. Through. The blood of Christ.

[36:28] The cross. Through him. I say. Whether things on earth. Or things. In heaven. Those few verses. Right there. Says it all.

[36:41] Says it all. And. What great verses. They are. It says there. He is the image. Of the invisible God.

[36:51] God. We see this. In other verses. All through scripture. What does it mean. That Jesus. Is the image of God. In Genesis. We learn. That a man. Is made.

[37:02] In the image of God. This means. That me. That we may have. Similarities. To God. Such as. Morales. Emotions. And intellect. But when we read.

[37:12] That Jesus. Is the image of God. It means that he is not. Just similar to God. But what? He is in fact. God. He is in fact.

[37:23] God. They are the same. In essence. He is the manifestation. Of God. Jesus. Reflects. All that God is. He is omniscient.

[37:34] I'm omnipresent. I'm omnipotent. Immutable. Just. Loving. Compassionate. Holy. Everything that God is.

[37:45] Jesus Christ is. God the Father. Does not have any qualities. Or abilities. That Jesus the Son. Does not have. Those who saw Jesus. Saw the Father.

[37:56] Father. He is Emmanuel. God. With. Us. And that's what the gospel. Is all about. Isn't it? We cannot see.

[38:09] God the Father. On this earth. Naturally. That results. In many questions. What is God like? I mean. There's a lot of people. Out there. That are questioning.

[38:19] Today. God. Who is God. And what's he like? We hear all you people. Talking about it. Well we don't understand it at all. How would you.

[38:30] How would you respond. To very. To the various situations. Jesus coming to earth. And revealing himself. To those. Solved those problems. He showed us. Exactly what God.

[38:40] Was like. He showed us. Exactly what God. Would do. And how did he do that? He was God. All you had to do. Was watch him.

[38:54] All you had to do. Was watch him. For those three years. And know. That he. Was God. There was something. About this man. We cannot fathom.

[39:04] We cannot understand. He healed. This man. That had been crippled. All his life. Come on. How does that happen? There has to be a trick.

[39:17] He's a magician. There's something. Going on here people. He can't do these things. Christ. In our Tuesday morning study. Marv is doing a. A study.

[39:28] On all the miracles of Christ. You know. On each one of those. You say. Wow. How could that happen? How can these things happen?

[39:41] It's because. A man didn't do this. Folks. We can't do this. There's no way. That we can do it. But Jesus Christ. Is.

[39:52] God. He was there. A creation. He created us. He put this body together. So why can't he.

[40:04] Take this thing. That's not right. And make it right. He can take those bones. And put them back together. And that's what he did.

[40:14] So. He is Christ. Jesus Christ. Is God. So. We see a mirror.

[40:26] He showed us exactly. What God was. Is like. He showed us exactly. What God could do. Through his walk. He was the first born. Of all creation.

[40:38] This phrase. Confused many. Well-being Christians. Over the years. Is also been used. By false teachers. To spread the lie. That Jesus. Is a created being.

[40:49] The rest of scripture. Is abundantly clear. That Jesus. Is. Eternal. He's not a created being. He's eternal.

[40:59] He was there. When God. Created. John 5. Or 8. 5a. Says. Verily. Verily. Truly. I tell you. Jesus answered.

[41:10] Before Abraham was. I. Am. I am. Jesus. Here. Declares. That he. Existed. Long. Before his own coming.

[41:21] Even before Abraham. This is a claim. To be. Eternally existent. This. Is. Divine. The Jews. Understand. This claim. And. What did they do?

[41:33] I think. You know. They came up with this. Look at the things. This man is doing. Is he saying.

[41:44] He's God. Oh no. This can't be. Hanging. Stoning. That's blasphemy. But they couldn't deny it.

[41:55] Could they? They saw. What was happening. So. The firstborn. The key to understanding. This. Understanding this passage here.

[42:06] Is understanding. What firstborn. Means. And. All culture. In all culture today. This means the one. Who is born. First. Now.

[42:16] If I was. At my family reunion. This Thursday. When all the family comes in. And somebody talks about. Michelle. I'm going to say. Oh yeah. My firstborn daughter. That's what.

[42:27] That's what we think about. When we say firstborn. But in the Middle East culture. The firstborn. Does not always refer. To the one born first. But is used as a title.

[42:37] For the person. Who has priority. Or rank. Over the others. Can we think of a story. From the Bible. That kind of emphasizes this. Think back to Jacob.

[42:49] And Esau. Esau. For example. When Jacob brought. Esau's birthright. The rank of the firstborn. Was transferred to him.

[43:00] Even though. He. Was. Younger. So. The firstborn. Cultures. Have different ways. Of saying that. And that's exactly.

[43:10] What the firstborn meant. And that's what we see today. The firstborn. When he said. Jesus Christ. Was the firstborn. He has that authority. As the firstborn.

[43:21] He was there. At the time. As we go on there. In these passages. By him. All things are created. In Genesis.

[43:33] We learn that God created. The heavens and the earth. Here we learn that Jesus did. Oh. Wait a minute. Isn't that a contradiction. In terms. How can you say.

[43:44] One incident. We read scripture. And it says. God created the earth. And the. Everybody in it. And they're here. Now we're saying. Jesus Christ. Was also part of the creator. Created the heavens and the earth.

[43:56] Here we learn that Jesus did. Do these passages disagree? They do not. On the contrary. They reprove. They also reprove.

[44:07] Reprove. Prove. That Jesus. Is. God. Which. Many of those people. Didn't want to hear. But they heard it.

[44:17] All things have been created through him. And for him. These three little words. And. For. Him. Are very important.

[44:30] To this discussion. On creation. And Christ. From these words. We know the reason the world was created. It was not created. It was not created primarily for our enjoyment. Although God does want us to enjoy it.

[44:42] It was not created. Primarily for our consumption. Although you can consume some parts. It was not certainly. Primarily. It was not created primarily for people.

[44:57] Although people are the highest of all God's creation. It was all. It was created for. Who? Him. Self. Himself.

[45:10] Ultimately. And primarily. For his own glory. And his own. Enjoyment. That seems very simplistic. Doesn't it? But.

[45:23] That's what God did. There doesn't have to be a reason. Except for God's reason. And I can sit here and conjecture all day long. Why he did this. Or why this is happening.

[45:34] All this is happening. But God says. Created. He created this for his own pleasure. For his own pleasure. He is before all things.

[45:46] Jesus is more important. Than anything else in the world. He has the priority. He is preominent. And he should treat. And we should treat him that way. We are commanded to be a living sacrifice.

[45:58] Sacrifice for the Lord. There will be many times in our lives. When we need to make a decision. Between two choices. For example. We may need to choose.

[46:09] Between a career or family. Through mother. Or through wife. A guy. That's a tricky one. When we face these decisions.

[46:22] Like that. We will have to answer the question. Which one has priority? Which one should come first? That's pretty easy.

[46:35] I mean. If you are going on a job. You have certain things you are looking for. You have to have set a priority. Of what you want.

[46:45] And what you are going to do. When we get married. What is our priority? Is our priority to my mother now? Heavens.

[46:57] I mean. I need to still treat my mother with a special love. But my priority? What is that priority? Yeah. I remember once.

[47:09] Joyce taught me a lesson. And it was about food. She fixed this nice meal. How do you like it? I said. Well. Not quite like moms.

[47:20] That was a mistake guys. Our priority. Goes to that wife. So. We will face. The same type of decisions.

[47:31] In regard to Christ. Career. Or Christ. What kind of a career. Are you going to accept? Are you going to accept. Some kind of a career. That's going to put your.

[47:43] Put you in a bad light. That's going to. Put you in a place. Where you're going to be doing something illegal. These type things. So we have to think about that. Career or Christ.

[47:56] Pleasure. Pleasure or Christ. All these things. That's before us today. With this new age of technology. All kinds of things. For our pleasure. Are we going to take all those pleasures.

[48:08] And lead Christ set back. No. What is our priority? We have to have that priority. The question is.

[48:20] Will we recognize this truth. When we make these decisions. So we get. We get faced with all kinds. Of decisions every day. Are we putting. Jesus Christ.

[48:31] In any of those decisions. And I. It's difficult. Because. You know. Those decisions come up quick. Sometimes you got to make. Very quick decisions. But what.

[48:43] Gives us the ability. To make those decisions. In the right way. Practice. Years of practice. Reading God's word. Coming here on Sunday morning.

[48:54] To hear God's word. Getting these things. So they're in your heart. So when the time comes. And this situation. Comes before you. You don't have to stop.

[49:05] And say. Hmm. What am I going to do? No. We just do it. Because it's here. It's already here. And God has told us. How we should react.

[49:16] So. Also says in these verses. He is the head. Of the body. The church. Christ is over the universe. As a whole.

[49:26] And he is also. Over the church. Especially. The view. The universe. Was created through him. And for him. And the church. Was also created. Through the. Through him.

[49:37] And for him. This is. A simple. But. Important. Truth. The head of the church. Is not any person. Whether a prophet.

[49:49] A pastor. Or any great leader. No matter how. Dynamic. The head of the church. Is not any organization. Or any. Any institution.

[50:00] Or. Any. Government. The head of the church. Is Jesus Christ. And we.

[50:12] As a church. See Jesus Christ. As the head of that church. Now. Does that put down. Brother Marv. As a teacher.

[50:23] Of course not. Brother Marv. Is a teacher. That's. Well. For over. 50 years. That man. Has given us. Information. That's. Just amazing. Uh.

[50:34] I don't even know how to. Comment about. How many things. That that man. Has given us. Over the years. And teaching. From the word of God. And. How did he do it?

[50:46] Well. For the first 40 years. I know exactly. How he did it. He did it. Verse. By. Verse. He didn't pick up.

[50:57] The book of Colossians. Like I am doing today. And just zipping right through it. No. He spent. One whole message. Probably on two or three. Passages.

[51:10] He kept repeating. A lot of times. He gets up there. And he says. I know I'm repeating. But. Hey. You need to hear it again. You need to hear it again.

[51:20] And you need to hear it again. Because that's how we learn. That's how we learn. So. Jesus Christ. As the head of the church. Don't put man.

[51:32] In that place. Because he doesn't belong there. We also have leadership in the church. They're not. The head of the church either. We have a board of elders here. All they do is.

[51:43] Lead. The business part. And try to be. There for social. Or for. Spiritual part. When necessary. For those. In the church.

[51:55] That's. They're an important. Part of the church. There's no doubt about it. But that's not what the church is all about. That is not what the church is all about. Verses 19 and 20.

[52:11] Jesus mission to the earth was ordained by God the father. He planned for Jesus to become the God man Emmanuel. He would not just be a good teacher. A good leader. A prophet with special abilities.

[52:23] He would actually be the living God. God. The purpose is so that Jesus would reconcile all things to himself in order to represent us.

[52:38] He had to become one of us in order to save us. He had to be the sinless and divine. Jesus the ultimate peacemaker. He gave up his life to make peace between us and God.

[52:51] God. Now folks that is the most important thing that we can think about. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. It talks about reconciliation.

[53:02] We've been reconciled. And what does it say next? For us to go out and reconcile. All reconcile means is being brought back.

[53:16] Brought back from what? Brought back from the fact that we were not with God. We were sinners. We are sinners.

[53:29] But he reconciled us. Jesus Christ, when he hung on that cross. Paid the penalties for all those sins. For all these sins that we've done all of our life. He reconciled. Brought us back.

[53:42] To holy and righteous God. Not because we deserved it. By mercy, no. We didn't deserve it. He did that out of grace. He reconciled us back to God.

[53:56] We were far away from God. He brought us back. Through salvation. Through the saving grace of the cross. And then he tells us on the next verse.

[54:07] Go and reconcile. All that means is go out and tell other people. Tell other people. Folks, we are involved with other people the whole time during the week, aren't we?

[54:23] Whether it's at work. At play. Wherever we're doing. Wherever we're at. We're involved with other people. When it's possibility, the subject coming up.

[54:36] Let it come. And when you do, be ready. That is a very important thing. Be ready. Anytime.

[54:46] Anytime. If the question is asked. Be ready to present the gospel of Jesus Christ. That doesn't mean you have to go out every day. It's hot in a corner.

[54:57] Buddy, are you saved? You don't have to do that. Because the time is going to come when they're going to come to you. Now, there's nothing wrong with going out and evangelism on the street.

[55:08] I'm not saying that. But we don't have to do that. We have members of our own family. Every place we go, there's the opportunity.

[55:19] And we need to do that. And I've run out of time. I didn't get far. And I would like to say, we can continue this.

[55:31] But that's probably not going to happen. Because I only get the chance to speak once in a while. When Marv leaves or somebody is here that can't preach, they'll ask me to preach.

[55:43] And I think it's been, well, I think I might have spoken in January. But you folks have forgotten everything I said. But by the time now comes. So it would be hard to go back and say, now let's continue from where I left off.

[55:56] But maybe we'll do this with the book of Colossians sometime when we have the chance. So thank you for your participation this morning. Thank you for being here. Let's close with a word of prayer. Father, thank you for this time that we could share in the epistle of the Colossians.

[56:13] For showing us some of the divine characteristics of Jesus the Christ. And his absolute love for us. And the fact that he is indeed God.

[56:26] We thank you for that. And also, Father, this morning just help us to enter into the gates today with thanksgiving and praise.

[56:38] And just glorify you for who and for what you are. Father, we just thank you for that. And Father, for all those that we talked about this morning that have health problems. We just pray that you'll be with them and guide them and help them get back here as soon as possible.

[56:53]  Father, we thank you this morning. We praise you for who and for what you are. And we ask it in our Lord and Savior's name. Jesus the Christ. Amen.