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Crowning-Christ-as-Lord-of-All-Msg-3-10 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Now we're involved in a study of a little letter
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  Speaker 1: that many have never read even one time.
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  Speaker 2: It's the letter.
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  Speaker 1: Paul wrote to the Colossians in a little church that
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  Speaker 1: had been formed because of a man named Epiphrats, who
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  Speaker 1: took the Gospel to them. He himself, no doubt, having
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  Speaker 1: heard of it, heard the gospel through Paul, who is
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  Speaker 1: the one who writes this letter. We find ourselves in
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  Speaker 1: the first chapter, verses fifteen through twenty three, which is
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  Speaker 1: one of the great sections of the letter, as it
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  Speaker 1: focuses full attention on Christ. I call it crowning Christ
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  Speaker 1: as Lord of All, and you will see why. As
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  Speaker 1: I read this section for you, I'll be reading from
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  Speaker 1: the New Living Translation. If you have a copy of
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  Speaker 1: the Scriptures, please open to Colossians one, beginning at verse fifteen,
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  Speaker 1: and as you do, please stand for the reading of
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  Speaker 1: God's words Colaussians one point fifteen. Christ is the visible
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  Speaker 1: image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created,
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  Speaker 1: and is supreme.
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  Speaker 2: Over all creation.
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  Speaker 1: For through him God created everything in the heavenly realms
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  Speaker 1: and on earth. He made the things we can see
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  Speaker 1: and the things we can't see, such as thrones, kingdoms,
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  Speaker 1: rulers and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created
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  Speaker 1: through Him and for him. He existed before anything else,
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  Speaker 1: and he holds all creation together. Christ is also the
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  Speaker 1: head of the Church, which is his body. He is
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  Speaker 1: the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead,
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  Speaker 1: so he is first in everything. For God, in all
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  Speaker 1: his fullness, was pleased to live in Christ, and through him,
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  Speaker 1: God reconcile himself, reconciled everything to himself. He made peace
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  Speaker 1: with everything in heaven and on earth by means of
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  Speaker 1: Christ's blood on the cross. This includes you, who were
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  Speaker 1: once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated
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  Speaker 1: from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now
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  Speaker 1: He has reconciled you to himself through the death of
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  Speaker 1: Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has
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  Speaker 1: brought you into his own presence, and you are holy
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  Speaker 1: and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault.
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  Speaker 2: But you must.
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  Speaker 1: Continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it.
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  Speaker 1: Don't drift away from the assurance you received when you
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  Speaker 1: heard the good news. The good news has been preached
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  Speaker 1: all over the world, and I Paul have been appointed
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  Speaker 1: as God's servant.
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  Speaker 2: To proclaim it.
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  Speaker 1: And aren't we grateful for what has been preserved for
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  Speaker 1: us through the centuries.
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  Speaker 2: Please be seated, so easy to let.
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  Speaker 1: Our minds wander when someone prays. It's difficult enough to
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  Speaker 1: remember needs as the one praying, but to have us
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  Speaker 1: in it together is a mutual effort. So as I
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  Speaker 1: pray for various things than you represent before the Lord,
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  Speaker 1: whatever it may be that's heavy on your heart, or
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  Speaker 1: perhaps a word of praise to him for his favor
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  Speaker 1: upon you, may we bow together to you, our Father.
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  Speaker 1: We owe our life and breath and all we have
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  Speaker 1: for your son is the one who conquered death, and
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  Speaker 1: through him, so shall we. We do not fear the
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  Speaker 1: grave nor the sting of death. Because of Christ. We
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  Speaker 1: do not fear what tomorrow may bring. Because of Christ,
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  Speaker 1: we are not concerned today, Lord over the events that
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  Speaker 1: surround us. Because Christ is sovereign, He is at work,
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  Speaker 1: He is living and moving among us. He is making
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  Speaker 1: known the truth of your book in a million different
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  Speaker 1: ways this very day. In Christ alone, we have assurance
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  Speaker 1: and hope, and forgiveness and grace.
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  Speaker 2: And clear direction.
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  Speaker 1: And the hope of eternal life. Thank you, Father, for
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  Speaker 1: the joy of worship in this land in which we
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  Speaker 1: are living, still free, able to worship, and we are grateful,
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  Speaker 1: Father for your hand over us as a nation, though
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  Speaker 1: we do not deserve it. Watch over those who keep
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  Speaker 1: us free, who carry heavy weapons of war and are
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  Speaker 1: in dangerous places this day, places we will never be,
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  Speaker 1: Protect them, comfort their families, bring them safely home. For
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  Speaker 1: those who have been injured and maimed in the war,
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  Speaker 1: we pray that you administer to them deeply through the
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  Speaker 1: love of family, and through caring physicians and nursing staffs
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  Speaker 1: who care for them. Thank you, our Father, for this church.
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  Speaker 1: How grateful we are for this place of ministry, for
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  Speaker 1: those who represent us on the staff, and those who
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  Speaker 1: serve You in faithful places around the world. As our
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  Speaker 1: missionaries use them, protect them, make their service effective, as
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  Speaker 1: they represent You in the places where they serve. We
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  Speaker 1: pray today for Ben and Anda. Thank You for their
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  Speaker 1: lives and for their presence in Romania. Watch over them
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  Speaker 1: and work through them. As Ben proclaims Your truth to
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  Speaker 1: the people of his homeland, not only through the pulpit
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  Speaker 1: of the church, but through the words that will ultimately
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  Speaker 1: be over the radio, and many in that land turned
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  Speaker 1: to Christ. We give our offerings today, Lord, that you
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  Speaker 1: may use these gifts in a special way. Watch over
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  Speaker 1: the use of these funds. May they be handled with
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  Speaker 1: integrity and wisdom. May our giving be marked by joy
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  Speaker 1: and generosity. In the name of Christ. Of course, Christ
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  Speaker 1: the Lord, we pray and for his sake alone, and
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  Speaker 1: all God's people said Amen. I've always loved the hymns.
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  Speaker 1: I've sung them since I was a little boy, and
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  Speaker 1: I can remember singing them in the churches where I
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  Speaker 1: was reared. I have my mother to thank for that love,
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  Speaker 1: which was cultivated early in my life. I've sung the
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  Speaker 1: hymns so long that without trying to, I've memorized most
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  Speaker 1: of them. And when I thought of founding a church,
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  Speaker 1: this church, one of my goals was to make sure
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  Speaker 1: that we would be a church.
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  Speaker 2: That sings the hymns.
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  Speaker 1: Not just the hymns. There are other okay, there are
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  Speaker 1: other great songs that are written, not just those of
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  Speaker 1: the early days, because we know today there are some
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  Speaker 1: still being written, and we love singing those as well,
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  Speaker 1: as well as great choruses of worship that resound to
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  Speaker 1: the glory of God and carry a message that has
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  Speaker 1: meaning and depth. The music of a church is not
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  Speaker 1: to be entertaining, it's to be edifying. It's to lift
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  Speaker 1: up our understanding of the truth. A characteristic of the
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  Speaker 1: hymns is that they are Orthodox and they are Christocentric.
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  Speaker 1: They center on the person of Christ, and not just
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  Speaker 1: on Christ, but on the Godhead, God the Father, as
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  Speaker 1: well as God, the Holy Spirit, and the doctrines of
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  Speaker 1: the Church that have been continuing for centuries all emerge
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  Speaker 1: in the singing of these great songs, these great tunes,
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  Speaker 1: these great hymns. Pliny the Younger, as far back as
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  Speaker 1: AD one ten said to the Roman emperor Trajan, the
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  Speaker 1: Christians sing a song to Christ as a god. When
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  Speaker 1: that appears in literature, the word God is a little
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  Speaker 1: g to Pliny, Christ was another of the many gods.
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  Speaker 1: But it troubled the emperor as well as those around him,
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  Speaker 1: that the Christians sang to Christ as the Lord, not
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  Speaker 1: to Caesar. Interestingly, whenever cults come on the scene and
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  Speaker 1: invade the church, which is what they pray on, invariably
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  Speaker 1: they introduce information that decreases the significance of Christ.
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  Speaker 2: Check it out.
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  Speaker 1: Cults do not exalt in Christ as God.
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  Speaker 2: They question his deity.
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  Speaker 1: They call into question his role in life, certainly as
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  Speaker 1: Lord of our lives, certainly as the creator of the world.
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  Speaker 1: Hymns are deep and worshipful. They remind us of the
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  Speaker 1: great truths of the faith. They communicate a definite message,
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  Speaker 1: and when written well, they have singable tunes where there
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  Speaker 1: is a progression of truth that is taught through the hymns. Now,
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  Speaker 1: it may surprise you to know the section we're looking at,
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  Speaker 1: at least verses fifteen through twenty of Colossians Chapter one
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  Speaker 1: could very well have been one of the ancient hymns,
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  Speaker 1: a hymn Paul wrote under the direction of the Spirit
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  Speaker 1: of God, or a hymn known in those days of
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  Speaker 1: the first century that Paul puts words to as he
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  Speaker 1: writes these words that appear in this passage, you would
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  Speaker 1: miss that if your Bible is not written in the
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  Speaker 1: metric verse, as though you were reading a poem. By
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  Speaker 1: the way, it occurs to me when I talked about
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  Speaker 1: early on about starting this church and we would be
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  Speaker 1: a hymn singing church, I don't know how many people
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  Speaker 1: said to me, lots of luck, that's not gonna work
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  Speaker 1: in this generation. Well, that's like telling sickam to a bulldog.
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  Speaker 1: I was more determined than ever to prove it can work.
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  Speaker 2: It does work.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know how many people who visit our church
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  Speaker 1: stop by the front where I stand following the service
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  Speaker 1: to say, we didn't know there could be a church
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  Speaker 1: like this. We haven't heard songs or hymns like this
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  Speaker 1: for years.
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  Speaker 2: We thought they were all.
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  Speaker 1: Lost, are gone. Perhaps in Paul's day it was just
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  Speaker 1: the beginning, the emergence of the expression of faith in
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  Speaker 1: a hymn style. When you read of this, you see
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  Speaker 1: how Christo centric it is. I've taken the time to
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  Speaker 1: underscore and read in verses fifteen to twenty in my
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  Speaker 1: Bible the references to Christ by name or to pronouns
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  Speaker 1: referring to him. He him himself fifteen times in six
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  Speaker 1: verses there is a reference to Jesus Christ. Obviously, he
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  Speaker 1: is the theme of what Paul is writing in this
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  Speaker 1: ancient hymn. Look at the beginning of it, and you
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  Speaker 1: will see immediately his desire that the reader understand that
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  Speaker 1: Christ is God begins with the name Christ. Christ is
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  Speaker 1: the visible image of the invisible God. You can stop
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  Speaker 1: right there, and you have a mouthful, You have a
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  Speaker 1: headful of things to think through God, though invisible, has
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  Speaker 1: made visible his attributes, his characteristics, his power, his knowledge
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  Speaker 1: through Christ. And because Christ has a body as a
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  Speaker 1: result of his birth at Bethlehem, conception in Mary's womb,
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  Speaker 1: and birth in the town of Bethlehem. Because he has
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  Speaker 1: a body, he is in visible form the truth of
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  Speaker 1: the invisible God. Look at chapter two and verse nine
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  Speaker 1: you will see a reference to this. For in Christ
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  Speaker 1: lives all the fullness of God. The Greek word fullness
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  Speaker 1: is play roma play roma. He is the pleroma of
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  Speaker 1: God in a human body. In other words, the summation
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  Speaker 1: of all God's attributes can be seen in the person
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  Speaker 1: and in the work of Christ. This is a slap
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  Speaker 1: in the face of the cult known in that day
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  Speaker 1: as the Gnostics. The Gnostics came with their false teaching
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  Speaker 1: that there is a higher knowledge, there is a greater learning,
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  Speaker 1: and it comes from the philosophical realm, and there are
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  Speaker 1: hundreds of emanations from that higher learning. One of them, yes,
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  Speaker 1: was Jesus, but he is among the lesser gods. They
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  Speaker 1: were teaching, and some of the Colusians were swept up
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  Speaker 1: in that false teaching. We sit in this place and
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  Speaker 1: we think I would never I would never get sucked
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  Speaker 1: into teaching like that. Don't talk too fast, don't say
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  Speaker 1: that too quickly. The cults are very subtle. They come
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  Speaker 1: with great charisma and incredible logic, if you will, a
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  Speaker 1: very appealing message winsome.
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  Speaker 3: They have a following, and little by little they hack
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  Speaker 3: away at your trust in Christ and your faith in
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  Speaker 3: the Son of God.
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  Speaker 1: As Deity. Paul rolls up his sleeves in verse of
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  Speaker 1: fifteen and takes on the cults, without once calling them
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  Speaker 1: by name. Declares, Christ is the visible image of the
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  Speaker 1: invisible God. To prove that he is Deity, he adds
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  Speaker 1: he existed before anything was created. Don't go any further,
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  Speaker 1: think about it. Go all the way back as far
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  Speaker 1: as your imagination can take you into eternity, past before
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  Speaker 1: there were the galaxies, the planets, the world as we
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  Speaker 1: know it, before there was matter, before there was time.
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  Speaker 1: Go back all the way as far as you can go,
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  Speaker 1: and you arrive at the Godhead and the eternal counsels
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  Speaker 1: of the Godhead. Christ is among the Godhead, the Father
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  Speaker 1: planning the redemption that would follow on this earth. The
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  Speaker 1: Father with a plan for creation, and then the Son
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  Speaker 1: was chosen to implement the plan. Many people don't think
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  Speaker 1: of Christ as the creator more than once we read here.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, he was the one whom the Father had
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  Speaker 1: create all things. He is coequal, coeternal, coexistent with the
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  Speaker 1: Father and with the Spirit, and in the form of
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  Speaker 1: the God had before any of what we call today's
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  Speaker 1: world or the surrounding galaxies around us existed. He was there.
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  Speaker 1: He existed before anything was created. And he adds, he
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  Speaker 1: is supreme over all that's been created. Not only was
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  Speaker 1: he there, but he is supreme over all. And why
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  Speaker 1: would he say that? The little letter or the little
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  Speaker 1: word four that begins verse sixteen is an explanatory connective,
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  Speaker 1: if you'll allow me, It's an explanatory connective that says,
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  Speaker 1: this is the reason I'm able to write that. So
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  Speaker 1: let's use the word because middle of verse five, he
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  Speaker 1: existed before anything was created. He is supreme overall creation
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  Speaker 1: because through him, that's Christ, God created everything in the
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  Speaker 1: heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we
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  Speaker 1: can see and the things we can't see. In other words,
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  Speaker 1: he made the things that are in the expansive stellar spaces,
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  Speaker 1: as well as the matter that is about us. He
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  Speaker 1: made it all as well as the microscopic cells and
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  Speaker 1: organisms we can't see with the naked eye. He made
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  Speaker 1: it all, put it together in a way that would
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  Speaker 1: honor and please him. After all, he's supreme over all
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  Speaker 1: of it. He made things we can see in the
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  Speaker 1: things we can't see. And then he names the realm
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  Speaker 1: of the thrones and the kingdoms, and the rulers and
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  Speaker 1: authorities in the unseen world. Perhaps you didn't know that existed.
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  Speaker 1: Satan dwells in one of these realms, his demons in
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  Speaker 1: one of those realms. Activity goes on in the unseen
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  Speaker 1: realm of the unseen world about us. The influence of
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  Speaker 1: it is certainly felt. But you do not see the thrones.
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  Speaker 1: You do not see who reigns over them, for they
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  Speaker 1: are invisible, which makes them all the more insidious in
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  Speaker 1: the temptations and in their approach to us in life. Everything, however,
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  Speaker 1: he adds at the end of verse sixteen, was created
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  Speaker 1: through him and for him. Understand that accept that in
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  Speaker 1: creation he is supreme. He existed before anything else, and
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  Speaker 1: he holds all creation together. Isn't that a statement? Gravity
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  Speaker 1: doesn't hold it all together. Mother Nature doesn't hold it
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  Speaker 1: all together. In case some of you were still thinking
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  Speaker 1: of Mother Nature. She's gone, she's not around. The Earth
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  Speaker 1: is not to be worshiped. The creator of the earth
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  Speaker 1: is You see how everything has become twisted in this
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  Speaker 1: post Christian era which we live. Paul takes us right
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  Speaker 1: back from the solar spaces right down to the microcosms.
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  Speaker 1: I found this last week when I was doing studying
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  Speaker 1: the small things, that there are eight hundred thousand cataloged insects.
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  Speaker 1: Do you know that most of them were in our
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  Speaker 1: home in Houston when we lived there? As I recall,
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  Speaker 1: my mother turned the light on at night, looked like
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  Speaker 1: a rodeome was going on on the floor, all kinds
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  Speaker 1: of that, but they were mainly one species. That reminds
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  Speaker 1: me of a joke. Do you know what cowboy Boots
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  Speaker 1: had pointed toes to kill the roaches in the corner.
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  Speaker 2: That's why you need them.
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  Speaker 1: Every one of those feces, every one of those insects,
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  Speaker 1: even the cells of every one of them, shells of everything.
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  Speaker 1: He has made it.
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  Speaker 2: He has made it a guide.
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  Speaker 1: I read took a group of people through an atomic
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  Speaker 1: laboratory and explained how all matter was composed of rapidly
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  Speaker 1: moving electric particles. The tourists study the models of molecules
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  Speaker 1: and were amazed to learn that matter is made up
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  Speaker 1: primarily of space. During the question period, one of the
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  Speaker 1: students ask if this is the way matter works, what
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  Speaker 1: holds it all together? What keeps it from disintegrating? The
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  Speaker 1: God had absolutely no answer, no answer. That's what makes
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  Speaker 1: the end of this verse so significant. End of verse seventeen,
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  Speaker 1: he holds all creation together. Now, having said that about
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  Speaker 1: his role in creation as being supreme, he goes to
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  Speaker 1: the church and he says verse eighteen, Christ is also
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  Speaker 1: the head of the church. It isn't interesting when you
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  Speaker 1: get to it. In contact, it's not as difficult to
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  Speaker 1: believe until you get there. People are taught the pastor
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  Speaker 1: is the head of the church. The pastor is never
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  Speaker 1: called the head of the church. That's heresy. The pope
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  Speaker 1: is not the head of the church. It's heresy. Christ
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  Speaker 1: is the head of the church. That's what scripture says
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  Speaker 1: here and elsewhere. He is the exalted one. He is
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  Speaker 1: the one who is to be worshiped. No man, no
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  Speaker 1: woman is ever to be worshiped. No office that's held
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  Speaker 1: in the church is ever to be an office of worship.
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  Speaker 1: It is all about Christ. That takes all the politics
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  Speaker 1: out of the church, which ruins many churches. There's no
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  Speaker 1: place for politics, there's no place for competition. We're not
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  Speaker 1: competing with each other. We're exercising gifts for the glory
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  Speaker 1: of Christ and for His purposes alone. When you begin
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  Speaker 1: to see this, it is remarkable how much of life
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  Speaker 1: reminds you of Christ. Across a magnificent poem I have
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  Speaker 1: to memorize by Joseph Plunkett, it goes as follows. I
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  Speaker 1: see his blood upon the rose and in the stars,
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  Speaker 1: the glory of his eyes. His body gleams amid eternal snows,
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  Speaker 1: his tears fall from the skies. I see his face
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  Speaker 1: at every flower. The thunder and the singing of the
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  Speaker 1: birds are but his voice, and carved by his power.
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  Speaker 1: Rocks are his written words. All pathways by his feet
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  Speaker 1: are worn. His strong heart stirs the ever beating sea.
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  Speaker 1: His crown of thorns is twined with every thorn. His
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  Speaker 1: cross is every tree. Whoever Joseph Plunkett was, his life
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  Speaker 1: was Christo centric. I know a man who came to
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  Speaker 1: Christ out of a pagan background, and he fell in
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  Speaker 1: love with the Lord, and he said, I want every
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  Speaker 1: waking thought to be of Christ. I want everything I
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  Speaker 1: do to remind me, he said. You know what I've learned, Chuck,
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  Speaker 1: I've learned every time I get to an intersection, I'm
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  Speaker 1: able to think of the Cross.
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  Speaker 2: Isn't that great?
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: So Christ centered that even north south east west intersection
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: with traffic lights, I focus on.
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: The Cross, the Cross.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: The apostle Paul. One of the things that made him
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: so great was a man who was consumed with adoration
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: for Christ.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: Oh to be like that.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: He can write of it in such a way that
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: you can't miss it. He puts these doctrines together so
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: that you can understand them. All of the things that
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: happen in the church are for the glory of Christ.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Every musical instrument played is to be played for the
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: glory of Christ. Every voice that sings is to be
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: sung for the purpose of magnifying Christ. Never to display
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: one's own voice or one's own skills. Every sermon preached
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: is to magnify the person of Christ. In fact, I
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: made a list. When it says here that he is
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: first in everything, along with being supreme overall who rise
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: from the dead, as we read at the end of
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: verse eighteen, first in resurrection. Read First Corinthians fifteen for
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: verification of that takes the the fear out of the grave,
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: takes the sting out of death. Why, because he's been raised,
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: He's supreme over death. You don't have to fear dying
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: if you're in Christ. You have him and he's led
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: the way, and you just follow him into victory beyond
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: this life. And then he says he's first in every thing.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: That's a pretty good list. Huh everything. Maybe you need
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: a little help track with me. In every decision we make.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: Christ is to be center of it in everything we do,
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: in every word we say, in everything we eat, and
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: whatever we may drink.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: Christ.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: Christ is to be exalted in every place we live,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: in every home we buy, in every apartment we rent,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: in every car we may lease or buy. Make Christ
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: be honored in the way we manage our money, in
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: who we marry and when, in how we live as
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: married partners, and in our singleness.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: Make Christ be magnified.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: In the way we wear our children, in the hidden
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: motives we never speak or revealed. In our academic pursuits,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: as we achieve one degree or another. May Christ be
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: magnified and our occupation are calling our profession.
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: Christ be exalted.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: The way we spend our time, what we do in
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: our leisure, how we treat our own bodies, how we
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: relate to one another. May Christ be supreme? What we
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: watch and what we read, in the way we carry
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: out our goals, and the priorities we choose, in the
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: art we enjoy, music, in worship, architecture, in response to people,
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: in times of testing and trials, in illness and health,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: in prosperity and adversity, in promotions and emotions.
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: In everything, he is to have first place.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: Think of it. Think of how that would revolutionize your
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: whole frame of reference. You would never begin to day
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: with the words I'm worried about. If Christ is supreme,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: He's got the world, he's got the day, he's got
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: the very moment you're sitting on the side of your
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: bed in his hand. He's leaving you. You're his child.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: If you've come to Christ, you belong to him. He's
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: protecting you. If nothing to fear. When I travel, I
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: tend to get a little bit of blue around evening time.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: The sun goes down, and Cynthia may not be with me,
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: and I'm missing her. I've already called her four times
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: one day. That ought to be enough, but it's not
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: the same without her in the room with me. And
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: my thoughts sometimes go to you who live alone without Christ. Oh,
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: no wonder, you're so lonely. But with Christ, you have
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: an eternal partner. You have a friend whose arm never
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: leaves your shoulder. You have a savior who will be
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: right there with you when you get that chest pain
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: and your buckle to your knees and you fear death
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: is coming. There's nothing to fear. I fly somewhat frequently,
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: and I sometime look over and I see people going
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: through their beads and they're all worried, and I want
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: to go. You don't, you don't, And I'm not attacking
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: that religion. I'm just saying you don't need to do that.
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: We have a savior, and when it's our time, you
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: can have a plain full of beads and it's not
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: going to help you get to that that sudden landing.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: So I don't worry. I see people fly, you think
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: almost want to go. I gotta help this thing in
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: the air. I gotta get it up there. I'm reading
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: about all. Please, if He's first in everything, he's first
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: in your travels. He's first in your scheduling since and
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: I've learned, never fight with the schedule. When they reschedule,
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: you accept it. Christ is involved in all of those disappointments.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: He's changing the schedule for a reason. You say, Oh, no, Chuck,
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: you're getting a little weird now. Really you like what
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: you do better than what I'm describing. No, if he's
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: first in everything, there is nothing he isn't first. In
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: bad sentence structure, but it's true Verse nineteen, God, in
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: all his fullness, was pleased to live in Christ.
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: That is a slap in the face of the gnostics.
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: God, the Supreme God, pleased to live in Christ and
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: through him. Look at this, Look at this great doctrinal word.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: God reconciled everything to himself.
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: What does that mean?
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: What does reconciliation mean? It means the bringing together of
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: two or more parties that are in disharmony and removing
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: what caused the disagreement and bringing back harmony. Christ reconciled
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: the world to himself.
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: God did it through Christ.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: And what's the thing that separated as sin?
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: Sin?
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: It's our sinfulness. God is holy and we are not.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: And there is this great gap between us. How can
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: I know that God? God will accept He has reconciled
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: us to him. Get this really clear in your mind
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: when you start thinking theologically, teach yourself correctly. God is
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: not reconciled a man. We are the ones reconciled to God.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: God's done nothing wrong. He reconciles the world to himself,
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: everything to himself. Look at it. He made peace with
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ's
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: blood on the cross. Don't let anyone tell you that
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: the blood isn't important. It is the divine detergent that
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: washes away the sins of the world. Without the blood,
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: you have no hope of having your sins washed away.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: But because He gave his blood on our behalf, God
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: acknowledges the blood is that which will bring reconciliation. And
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: now we are right with God, rather than living fearful
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: of him. Following the first service, I had a brother
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: come by to talk to me, and he was from
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: another particular church. I'll not name the church. That's not important,
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: but he said, as I was growing up, all through
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: my early years as a child, I was taught you
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: can never ever know if you're saved, because you know
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: you may have done something that is really bad and
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: then you'll be lost again. And he said, every night
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: I would just pray Lord, I asked Jesus to come
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: into my life. And he said, night after night, every
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: church service, I was coming down an aisle to give
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: my heart to Christ, because I never knew if I
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: was really if I really had the assurance of salvation.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: And he said, you know, every once in a while
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: it plays on me. I was reared in that context.
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: I mean, when your mom and dad teach you that
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: they're sincere, but they're sincerely wrong, because we know from here,
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: as we will see in a few moments and from
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: other passages, we are secure in Christ. I heard of
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: an old revivalist who said, if I really believe you
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: could lose your salvation, everybody who came to faith, I'd
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: shoot him on the spot so they would go to heaven.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: Of course, he's got other issues to deal with if
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: he plans to carry a gun with him and he
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: presents the gospel. But how tragic it would be if
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: I offered you from the scriptures the hope of eternal life,
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: and then to say, but you know what you got
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: to really watch it, because if you do something really
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: bad tonight, he's throwing you out. You know what, that's heresy.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: There is an eternality connected with our security. And since
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: we are born into the family of God, we can't
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: be unborn. My son, my daughter will always be my
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: son's my daughter's regardless of what they do or the
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: lives they live. They will always have my blood. They
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: will always be in my family. I will always love them.
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: How much more our heavenly father will love us so
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: when he gets to the cross. I love it that
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: This particular translation in verse twenty one says, this includes you,
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: and that great In case you think I'm talking to
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: your husband or to somebody sitting near you, this is you.
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: This includes you. He's writing to the Colossians, these who
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: were being drawn away by the Gnostics. He says, you
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: who were once far away from God. That they are
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: mainly gentile. They didn't know the Lord from a lizard.
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, they're living their life in all the mythology
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: and the heathen world of their times, and coming from
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: all of that. You were once far away from God.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: You were his enemies attract this. You were separated from
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: him by your evil thoughts and actions. Remember the sin
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: that came between us and the Holy God.
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: It's true.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: And yet now look at this, because these collusions are believers.
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: Now he has reconciled you to him. So you don't
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: reconcile God to us. You reconcile us to God.
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: He has been.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: He has reconciled you to himself through the death of
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: Christ in his physical body. As a result, watch this.
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: This is positional truth you rarely hear. He has brought
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: you into his own presence. You are holy, You were
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: blameless as you stand before him, without a single fault.
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: You hear that, and it sounds so strange. You think,
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: I'm not there. I got lots of faults.
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: That's not what he's talking about talking about.
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: Theoretically, in God's eyes, in his plan, when you trust
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: his son, you are into his presence and you are
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: set apart. The word wholly means set apart. You are
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: without blame as you stand before him. You are without
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: a single fault. That's why when you die, you have
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: Heaven as your home. Now, in the meantime, we need
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: to live like you, which is his whole point. When
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: he gets to verse twenty three, says, you must continue
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: to believe this truth, stand firm in it. Now he
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: has a cult in mind. Don't drift away from the
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: assurance you received when you heard the good news. The
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: good news has been preached all over the world, and
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: I Paul had been appointed as God's servant to proclaim it,
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: and I'm declaring it to you today. I have the
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: privilege to announce to all of us that if you
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: come to Christ, you will be in God's eyes as
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: perfect as his own. Dear son, you are fault less.
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: Jude ends his letter with the wonderful doxology. Now to
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: him who is able to guard us from stumbling and
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: get this and to present us fault less before his presence,
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: with exceeding great joy to the only wise God, our Savior,
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: be glory and majesty, dominion and power. Fault Less you
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: you rascal, me rascal, the one who does wrong rather regularly.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: When I separ to the Lord's presence, he'll say, come
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: on home, child your mind. I remember the day when
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: you're a little boy and the Lord Jesus came into
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: your life, and he has now given you the fulfillment
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: of your faith, regardless of how you were raised this
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: is the hope you could.
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: Have through Christ.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: Reminds me of a man you probably have never heard of.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: He lived his life in England. His name was Edward
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: Mote born seventeen ninety seven died eighteen seventy four. In
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: his home his Paris did not allow anybody in the
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: family to have a Bible. There was no place for
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: the scriptures in that home. Father and mother lost. He
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: grew up in that world, became a cabinet maker before
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: he entered that responsible calling that God had for him.
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: Through some means never revealed in any source I can find.
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: Edward Mote heard the Gospel who was a teenager and
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: he turned to Christ. It changed his whole perspective. As
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: a matter of fact, around middle Age he was led
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: to write a poem. Later, thanks to William Bradbury, was
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: given a tune that is still with us in the
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: church today. My hope is built on nothing less than
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: but holy lean on Jesus' name, on Christ the solid
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. He
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: entered the ministry, and following that entering the ministry, he
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: wrote over one hundred more hymns and songs poems that
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: would find their way, many of them into the church.
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: He came to the day of his death, and he
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: said to one standing close by, the truths I have
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: preached I am now living upon, and they will do
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: to die upon. He wrote, to conclude his song when
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: he shall come with trumpets found, may I then in
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: him he found, dressed in his righteousness alone faultless to
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: stand before the throne on Christ. The solid rock I
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: stand all on the ground is sinking sand. You hear that,
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: You might think that's pretty narrow. Chuck, Yeah, I love it.
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: I love it. You're not giving an option or trial
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: one of these seven things. Maybe one I'm gonna work
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: for you. Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth,
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: the Life. No one comes to the Father but through me.
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: Paul wrote, there is one God, one go between one advocate,
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: between God and man, the man Christ, Jesus.
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: There's one.
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: There's one. Don't let anyone ever tell you that there
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: is a plurality here, and you can take your choice
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: on whichever God you want. You choose anyone other than Christ,
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: You're lost.
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: You're lost.
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: You will not no assurance of salvation. You will not
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: fall asleep at peace, but forever restless. And when you
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: are in that last bed you'll be on. You will
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: have peace in your heart.
• 44:30
  Speaker 3: Knowing.
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: On Christ the solid rock you stand. All the other
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: ground is sinking sand.
• 44:40
  Speaker 4: That great, Oh, I love it, it's so great. Bow
• 44:49
  Speaker 4: with me, will you?
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm going to say to you, you
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: who have been here before.
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: On earth?
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: Is keeping you from Christ? Since He is to have
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: first place and everything everything else you're hanging on to
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: is weigh down the line You're missing the one main thing.
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: Your sin has separated you from the Holy God. You
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: must acknowledge that, not hide from it, not deny it.
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: And in acknowledging it, say to your Father in Heaven today,
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: Lord God, while I don't understand a lot of the
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: things that are in the Bible, I understand that I
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: am lost, and I understand that you save the lost.
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: And Jesus is the one who makes it possible. I
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: take him now.
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: I trust him.
• 45:54
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: Don't dare go on through.
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: This today without Christ.
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: It is in the supreme name of the Lord Jesus
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: Christ we have met. It is for His glory alone
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: we have sung the songs of the faith. It is
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: because of Christ we live and move and have our
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: reason for existence. And therefore, Dear Father, may you bring
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: Christ to the heart of anyone who this day is
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: without him, keep them restless until they find a peace
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: with Him, whom to know is life everlasting. In His
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: magnificent name, we pray, and all God's people said, Amen, Amen, Amen.
• 46:57
  Speaker 4: The preceding message, crowning Christ as the Lord of All,
• 47:01
  Speaker 4: was copyrighted in twenty fourteen and twenty twenty two, and
• 47:05
  Speaker 4: the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty two by
• 47:08
  Speaker 4: Charles Arswindahl, Inc.
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: commercial use is strictly prohibited.