WEBVTT 00:00:09.480 --> 00:00:14.320 Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:16.600 an international church in Bangkok, Thailand, 00:00:16.780 --> 00:00:19.820 with dozens of nationalities worshiping together. 00:00:20.120 --> 00:00:23.000 We invite you to connect with us from wherever 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:27.219 you are through our website, ecb .asia, or our 00:00:27.219 --> 00:00:31.079 mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed 00:00:31.079 --> 00:00:35.600 by this week's sermon. We started the book of 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:39.060 Colossians last week. So if you missed the first 00:00:39.060 --> 00:00:41.240 study, you can go back to our app or go to the 00:00:41.240 --> 00:00:43.740 website and you can see the whole study there 00:00:43.740 --> 00:00:46.719 as well. So today we'll be doing the second session 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:49.000 of the study. And it's going to take us all the 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:52.700 way through July and part of August as well. 00:00:54.520 --> 00:01:00.320 Let's pray together. Hallelujah to the Lamb. 00:01:00.899 --> 00:01:05.219 As we sang, Lord, just now. It's your kingdom, 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:12.480 not ours. Your glory. Your purpose. And I ask 00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:15.379 that as we study your word today, our eyes will 00:01:15.379 --> 00:01:18.280 be even more open to understand and see your 00:01:18.280 --> 00:01:23.780 truth. So that we will experience the grace, 00:01:23.780 --> 00:01:28.239 the peace that you came to give us. Unhindered. 00:01:29.700 --> 00:01:34.099 In Jesus' name, I ask you, would you use me in 00:01:34.099 --> 00:01:38.299 your power and in your grace? In the name of 00:01:38.299 --> 00:01:43.439 our Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen. Okay, because 00:01:43.439 --> 00:01:48.120 this is the second session of the study, I want 00:01:48.120 --> 00:01:51.459 to start by doing a little review. And in the 00:01:51.459 --> 00:01:54.780 review, what is different is that you give me 00:01:54.780 --> 00:01:57.680 the answers. You see that? Okay, so let's see 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:00.079 how this goes. But the clicker is not working 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:08.099 for some reason. Can you just double check? System 00:02:08.099 --> 00:02:14.879 is all proper? Okay, there. So, first question, 00:02:15.020 --> 00:02:19.139 in what modern day nation is Colossae located? 00:02:20.699 --> 00:02:24.000 Turkey, yeah, Turkey. And that area of Turkey 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:27.479 during the time of the apostles was known as 00:02:27.479 --> 00:02:31.460 Asia Minor, right? Whole region. And the second 00:02:31.460 --> 00:02:35.419 question, which epistles did Paul write from 00:02:35.419 --> 00:02:38.099 prison, which are known as the Prison epistles. 00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:41.500 You need to know at least two of them, because 00:02:41.500 --> 00:02:45.759 we just studied them last week. Okay? Colossians, 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:50.460 Philemon, those two that were being sent together. 00:02:50.759 --> 00:02:56.099 And what are the other two? Ephesians and? Philippians, 00:02:56.120 --> 00:02:59.139 yeah, good. So Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 00:02:59.159 --> 00:03:02.599 Philemon. And it was during the time in prison 00:03:02.599 --> 00:03:05.360 that the apostle Paul hears about the church 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:09.900 of Colossae, which he had not planted. And this 00:03:09.900 --> 00:03:12.219 guy that comes to tell him the report about it, 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:14.620 tell him everything that is happening. And that's 00:03:14.620 --> 00:03:17.020 why Paul writes the letter to encourage that 00:03:17.020 --> 00:03:21.240 church. And also he led Onesimus to Christ in 00:03:21.240 --> 00:03:23.979 prison, who was the slave that escaped from Philemon. 00:03:24.520 --> 00:03:27.319 Who was his friend. And now Paul writes to his 00:03:27.319 --> 00:03:30.379 friend Philemon to welcome Onesimus back now 00:03:30.379 --> 00:03:32.819 as a brother in Christ. So those were the two 00:03:32.819 --> 00:03:35.919 letters that come together from prison right 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:40.000 there. Now the last question. What are the two 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:42.039 legs of the Christian walk that Paul wanted the 00:03:42.039 --> 00:03:48.389 Colossians to experience? Grace and peace. And 00:03:48.389 --> 00:03:50.750 grace and peace were the two things that were 00:03:50.750 --> 00:03:53.370 being compromised because of the teaching of 00:03:53.370 --> 00:03:56.729 the Judaizers as well as the pagan teaching that 00:03:56.729 --> 00:03:59.409 was infiltrating the church. So the Apostle Paul 00:03:59.409 --> 00:04:02.469 writes to the Colossians to make sure that they 00:04:02.469 --> 00:04:05.590 experience grace and peace. I didn't let all 00:04:05.590 --> 00:04:10.810 this false teaching change the truth and the 00:04:10.810 --> 00:04:13.889 way they are experiencing the Lord. So are you 00:04:13.889 --> 00:04:18.930 experiencing grace and peace? Some false teaching 00:04:18.930 --> 00:04:21.430 has compromised your understanding of who God 00:04:21.430 --> 00:04:23.990 is. And therefore there's no grace and there's 00:04:23.990 --> 00:04:27.649 no peace. That's why this study is so significant 00:04:27.649 --> 00:04:30.970 for all of us as we go through each week. It's 00:04:30.970 --> 00:04:32.910 because the same thing the Apostle Paul wanted 00:04:32.910 --> 00:04:35.290 the Colossians to experience is what God wants 00:04:35.290 --> 00:04:39.370 you to experience. His grace, his peace, the 00:04:39.370 --> 00:04:45.220 two legs of the Christian walk. That's why in 00:04:45.220 --> 00:04:47.360 the first study what the Apostle Paul does is 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:50.459 that he tells the Colossians, look, let me explain 00:04:50.459 --> 00:04:53.959 salvation to you. And he completely reframes 00:04:53.959 --> 00:04:57.420 salvation in a very specific way. He says, you 00:04:57.420 --> 00:04:59.699 will move from the kingdom of darkness now to 00:04:59.699 --> 00:05:02.759 the kingdom of Jesus, the kingdom of light. And 00:05:02.759 --> 00:05:05.160 before you were God's enemies, but now you've 00:05:05.160 --> 00:05:08.939 been completely reconciled with God 100%. So 00:05:08.939 --> 00:05:11.339 as he starts teaching them about what salvation 00:05:11.339 --> 00:05:15.699 is, He wants them to understand the foundation 00:05:15.699 --> 00:05:19.519 for grace and peace. But today, he is going to 00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:24.240 now reframe Jesus for them. Because if they don't 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:27.439 understand who Jesus truly is, their ability 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:30.959 to experience God's grace and peace will be compromised 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:35.000 as well. And that is going to be the focus of 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:38.939 today's study. So I would like to start by asking 00:05:38.939 --> 00:05:46.860 you a question. Who or what is the center of 00:05:46.860 --> 00:05:52.300 your universe? You are living your life and there's 00:05:52.300 --> 00:05:58.220 something at the center. What is it? Did I hear 00:05:58.220 --> 00:06:02.540 somebody say my boyfriend? Okay. Yeah, that happens. 00:06:03.699 --> 00:06:08.160 Oh, somebody else said what? Your children. Right. 00:06:08.860 --> 00:06:11.160 Your children can be the center of your universe. 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:16.889 You live just for them. Or your parents. Yeah, 00:06:17.009 --> 00:06:19.069 you are living just to please your parents, make 00:06:19.069 --> 00:06:21.350 sure that they are happy with you and then caring 00:06:21.350 --> 00:06:28.930 for them. Right. What else? Or your career. Right. 00:06:29.029 --> 00:06:31.009 Your career can be the center of your universe. 00:06:31.310 --> 00:06:34.449 You are living just to make sure that you retire 00:06:34.449 --> 00:06:37.189 well with enough money so that when you get all 00:06:37.189 --> 00:06:39.709 sick and have to go to the hospital and die there, 00:06:39.889 --> 00:06:43.580 you have enough money to cover everything. Right? 00:06:43.580 --> 00:06:47.319 We all have a center of our universe. And what 00:06:47.319 --> 00:06:52.379 we're going to learn today is that Jesus wants 00:06:52.379 --> 00:06:56.240 to be the center of your universe. And if he 00:06:56.240 --> 00:06:58.899 is not the center of your universe, your ability 00:06:58.899 --> 00:07:02.899 to experience his grace and his peace is going 00:07:02.899 --> 00:07:08.079 to be compromised. But in order to have Jesus 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:10.680 as the center of our universe, we have to understand 00:07:10.680 --> 00:07:15.860 who Jesus is. And any misconception about Jesus 00:07:15.860 --> 00:07:19.300 can indeed compromise your ability to experience 00:07:19.300 --> 00:07:22.540 his grace and peace. Let me put it this way. 00:07:23.779 --> 00:07:26.600 Imagine that the next flight you take, no matter 00:07:26.600 --> 00:07:27.980 where in the world you're going to be flying, 00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:33.040 as you are getting ready to take off, you hear 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:37.230 the flight attendant saying, Dear passengers, 00:07:37.670 --> 00:07:40.769 today is a special day. I want you to join me 00:07:40.769 --> 00:07:44.629 in welcoming our new pilot. Please, clap with 00:07:44.629 --> 00:07:50.069 us. This is his first flight ever, and he just 00:07:50.069 --> 00:07:56.009 graduated from school. So, everybody happy? And 00:07:56.009 --> 00:07:58.370 let me just tell you, as a joke, you are his 00:07:58.370 --> 00:08:03.230 guinea pigs. And now you take off. And now you're 00:08:03.230 --> 00:08:06.740 flying. And now there's a little turbulence. 00:08:08.519 --> 00:08:12.319 How would you feel? What would you be thinking? 00:08:13.860 --> 00:08:17.240 I hope he knows what he's doing. I'm going to 00:08:17.240 --> 00:08:20.339 crash. You're going to start feeling all anxious 00:08:20.339 --> 00:08:25.040 because you think that this pilot is not good 00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:29.959 enough. He doesn't have enough experience. But 00:08:29.959 --> 00:08:35.460 now let's change the picture. Start the flight. 00:08:35.580 --> 00:08:40.700 The flight attendant says, you have no idea how 00:08:40.700 --> 00:08:43.059 privileged you are to be in this flight today 00:08:43.059 --> 00:08:46.220 because the creator and designer of this airplane, 00:08:46.519 --> 00:08:50.220 who is the person who helped us design this route, 00:08:50.379 --> 00:08:54.419 is the pilot of this airplane. He has thousands 00:08:54.419 --> 00:08:58.159 and thousands of flight hours and he has experienced 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:03.200 any potential scenario ever to exist in the flying 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:09.580 world. Please join me in welcoming our guest 00:09:09.580 --> 00:09:12.559 pilot and everybody clapping now, right? Now 00:09:12.559 --> 00:09:14.299 you're flying, there's a little bit of turbulence. 00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:21.100 How do you feel? Ah, just turbulence. He knows 00:09:21.100 --> 00:09:25.279 what he's doing. It's going to be okay. Fine. 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:30.720 Same plane, same turbulence, same passengers. 00:09:31.700 --> 00:09:35.840 But what changed, Was the perception of the pilot. 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:39.620 If your perception of the pilot. Is that he's 00:09:39.620 --> 00:09:41.179 not good enough. You're not going to experience 00:09:41.179 --> 00:09:44.240 peace. You're going to have fear. And the same 00:09:44.240 --> 00:09:48.379 thing will happen. In your life. There's a pilot. 00:09:48.840 --> 00:09:51.799 In your airplane. And you better get to know 00:09:51.799 --> 00:09:56.019 him. For who he truly is. Because if you don't. 00:09:56.399 --> 00:09:59.200 Instead of peace. You will have fear. Instead 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:03.139 of grace. You will have shame. That's why it 00:10:03.139 --> 00:10:05.799 is so important that the Apostle Paul writes 00:10:05.799 --> 00:10:09.340 to the Colossians these words to make sure that 00:10:09.340 --> 00:10:12.200 they understand who Jesus is because the teaching 00:10:12.200 --> 00:10:15.539 that has been infiltrating the church has started 00:10:15.539 --> 00:10:19.659 to distort the true identity of Jesus. So that's 00:10:19.659 --> 00:10:22.299 why you can hear the tone of the Apostle Paul 00:10:22.299 --> 00:10:25.320 in some of these sections because at the core, 00:10:26.079 --> 00:10:28.799 What's happening is that all of these teachings 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:32.460 from the Judaizers as well as the pagans, they're 00:10:32.460 --> 00:10:35.360 saying, yeah, Jesus is all good, but Jesus plus 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:39.840 obeying the law. Jesus plus circumcision. Jesus 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:43.799 plus doing this and that. Jesus plus worshiping 00:10:43.799 --> 00:10:48.460 these idols. Jesus plus everything was Jesus 00:10:48.460 --> 00:10:51.940 is not enough. You need Jesus plus these other 00:10:51.940 --> 00:10:56.879 things. And Paul says, no. True Christianity 00:10:56.879 --> 00:11:02.820 is Jesus period. Jesus is sufficient. It's enough. 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:08.840 Why? Well, let me tell you who Jesus is. And 00:11:08.840 --> 00:11:11.720 as they understand who Jesus is, they will be 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:16.759 able to understand why Jesus period is the right 00:11:16.759 --> 00:11:20.919 perspective. Now that you understand this, pay 00:11:20.919 --> 00:11:24.220 attention. To the words that he says in chapter 00:11:24.220 --> 00:11:26.799 1 as well as in chapter 2. In this selection 00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:31.519 for you to get the idea of what he's doing. I 00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:35.940 want you to know how much I have agonized for 00:11:35.940 --> 00:11:39.700 you and for the church of Laodicea. And for many 00:11:39.700 --> 00:11:42.940 other believers who have never met me personally. 00:11:43.340 --> 00:11:46.019 By the way, this is how we know that he did not 00:11:46.019 --> 00:11:49.909 plant those churches. See? And he continues, 00:11:50.110 --> 00:11:53.409 I want them to be encouraged and knit together 00:11:53.409 --> 00:11:58.269 by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete 00:11:58.269 --> 00:12:02.690 confidence that they understand God's mysterious 00:12:02.690 --> 00:12:09.309 plan, which is Christ himself. I want them to 00:12:09.309 --> 00:12:12.909 understand Christ himself, this mystery, with 00:12:12.909 --> 00:12:18.919 full confidence in him. Like hidden all the treasures 00:12:18.919 --> 00:12:22.440 of wisdom and knowledge. You don't need another 00:12:22.440 --> 00:12:28.139 source. And now, just as you accepted Christ 00:12:28.139 --> 00:12:32.360 Jesus as your Lord. You must continue to follow 00:12:32.360 --> 00:12:37.659 him. Let your roots grow down into him. And let 00:12:37.659 --> 00:12:43.720 your lives be built on him. Let him be the foundation 00:12:43.720 --> 00:12:49.440 of your life. then your faith will grow strong 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:53.220 in the truth you were taught and you will overflow 00:12:53.220 --> 00:12:56.679 in thankfulness. You're going to have joy, peace. 00:12:56.759 --> 00:13:00.220 The way you experience life is going to be with 00:13:00.220 --> 00:13:03.379 this sense of confidence that is coming from 00:13:03.379 --> 00:13:06.419 the understanding of that root who is Jesus. 00:13:06.899 --> 00:13:11.710 And then he says, don't let... Anyone captures 00:13:11.710 --> 00:13:15.470 you with empty philosophies and high -sounding 00:13:15.470 --> 00:13:19.549 nonsense that comes from human thinking and from 00:13:19.549 --> 00:13:22.970 the spiritual powers of this world rather than 00:13:22.970 --> 00:13:27.789 from Christ. Watch out what YouTube videos you 00:13:27.789 --> 00:13:31.309 are watching. Watch out what are the podcasts 00:13:31.309 --> 00:13:33.669 you are listening to and what books you are reading. 00:13:34.210 --> 00:13:39.879 Do not let false teaching That sounds all wise 00:13:39.879 --> 00:13:46.620 and cool. But it's nonsense. Deceive you. And 00:13:46.620 --> 00:13:50.220 this is why he's going to start telling them. 00:13:50.279 --> 00:13:54.179 All of this information about who Jesus is. Because 00:13:54.179 --> 00:13:57.480 he says look. If you want to experience life 00:13:57.480 --> 00:14:00.659 as God intended. Where you're going to have his 00:14:00.659 --> 00:14:04.399 peace. His grace. You're going to have good fruit. 00:14:04.820 --> 00:14:09.960 Of your service to the Lord. Then you have to 00:14:09.960 --> 00:14:13.919 pay attention to your roots. Your roots must 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:18.379 be firmly established in who truly Jesus is. 00:14:19.480 --> 00:14:24.200 Because if your roots are shallow, rather than 00:14:24.200 --> 00:14:28.639 being a strong tree that lasts through generations, 00:14:28.919 --> 00:14:32.559 you are going to instead be a weak tree that 00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:37.779 any strong wind comes out like that. What kind 00:14:37.779 --> 00:14:41.039 of tree do you want to be? The one that grows 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:44.919 strong and mature and gives fruit? Or the one 00:14:44.919 --> 00:14:49.899 that gets pushed and flop? Like that. Which kind 00:14:49.899 --> 00:14:52.320 of tree do you want to be? I know the answer. 00:14:52.460 --> 00:14:54.460 No one wants to be the tree that falls with the 00:14:54.460 --> 00:14:59.220 wind. You want to be the strong tree. Fruitful. 00:15:01.220 --> 00:15:05.860 Stable. But that is the outcome of your root. 00:15:06.600 --> 00:15:10.779 And the root must be the true identity of who 00:15:10.779 --> 00:15:15.019 Jesus is. I remember listening to the story of 00:15:15.019 --> 00:15:20.580 Micah who grew up being taught that Jesus was 00:15:20.580 --> 00:15:26.259 one of God's children because God, known as Elohim, 00:15:26.440 --> 00:15:29.919 was a human like you and I that became advanced 00:15:29.919 --> 00:15:33.440 and eventually he had many wives. And through 00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:36.620 those many wives, in time past, he conceived 00:15:36.620 --> 00:15:39.080 many children. And one of those children was 00:15:39.080 --> 00:15:43.039 Jesus. And another of the children of God that 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:45.580 he conceived was Satan. So Jesus and Satan was 00:15:45.580 --> 00:15:48.980 brothers. That's what this guy was being taught. 00:15:49.919 --> 00:15:54.289 And before... The world was created when God, 00:15:54.529 --> 00:15:57.509 the Father, with all his children, including 00:15:57.509 --> 00:16:00.730 Satan and Jesus, were there planning to create 00:16:00.730 --> 00:16:03.029 the world and how they were going to save it. 00:16:05.049 --> 00:16:08.730 Satan wanted to be one of the saviors, but no, 00:16:08.889 --> 00:16:11.049 they were not happy with it. Jesus says, okay, 00:16:11.129 --> 00:16:13.970 I can be the savior. And then God was happy with 00:16:13.970 --> 00:16:17.409 Jesus, but then Satan rebelled, and therefore 00:16:17.409 --> 00:16:21.450 he was sent into the world like that. And eventually, 00:16:21.769 --> 00:16:25.009 this Jesus became the savior of the world, but 00:16:25.009 --> 00:16:29.929 it was Jesus plus, not Jesus period. So for Micah, 00:16:29.950 --> 00:16:32.230 he thought, okay, I need to believe in Jesus, 00:16:32.350 --> 00:16:36.350 but I also have to do all this work and all of 00:16:36.350 --> 00:16:39.850 these things. Do you know what kind of doctrine 00:16:39.850 --> 00:16:43.889 this is called? This is called the doctrine of 00:16:43.889 --> 00:16:47.250 the Mormon church. The Mormon church believes 00:16:47.250 --> 00:16:52.519 that Jesus was a created being. So Micah grew 00:16:52.519 --> 00:16:55.559 up in that context, believing until one day as 00:16:55.559 --> 00:16:57.539 he was reading the Bible, because the Mormon 00:16:57.539 --> 00:17:00.539 church has the Bible and also the Book of Mormon 00:17:00.539 --> 00:17:04.000 and another book in addition to that. But what 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:07.400 they were doing was, as he started reading the 00:17:07.400 --> 00:17:11.140 Bible, he started seeing a picture of a different 00:17:11.140 --> 00:17:15.019 Jesus. And salvation being by grace through faith. 00:17:15.400 --> 00:17:18.759 And when he believed in Jesus for the first time, 00:17:19.109 --> 00:17:23.990 And he gave his life to the Lord. He says, I 00:17:23.990 --> 00:17:27.470 realized that I had spent all of my life trying 00:17:27.470 --> 00:17:31.430 to earn that which Jesus had already paid for. 00:17:32.430 --> 00:17:36.730 And that realization is what opened the door 00:17:36.730 --> 00:17:39.670 for Micah to be able to experience the grace 00:17:39.670 --> 00:17:44.549 and the peace of the true Jesus. Not the distorted 00:17:44.549 --> 00:17:49.180 Jesus that he had come to believe. Do you understand 00:17:49.180 --> 00:17:54.740 what difference it makes? So the Apostle Paul 00:17:54.740 --> 00:17:58.160 is trying to encourage Christians and you and 00:17:58.160 --> 00:18:01.559 me to make sure that we know who Jesus truly 00:18:01.559 --> 00:18:05.619 is so that we will be not that tree that will 00:18:05.619 --> 00:18:08.680 fall with the wind of deception, but that will 00:18:08.680 --> 00:18:13.259 be the strong, stable one. And for that, we have 00:18:13.259 --> 00:18:17.470 to understand something. That summarizes pretty 00:18:17.470 --> 00:18:22.069 much the historical distortions of Jesus. What 00:18:22.069 --> 00:18:25.410 I want to do in these next few minutes is to 00:18:25.410 --> 00:18:29.269 give you just a big picture. And then we will 00:18:29.269 --> 00:18:33.130 go back to Colossians to see what the Apostle 00:18:33.130 --> 00:18:36.650 Paul masterfully wrote about the identity of 00:18:36.650 --> 00:18:39.890 who Jesus truly is. And from there we will go 00:18:39.890 --> 00:18:42.529 into the implications of that. But let me tell 00:18:42.529 --> 00:18:45.980 you a little bit about this. Historical background. 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:52.059 One of the first distortions historically that 00:18:52.059 --> 00:18:57.500 appeared about who Jesus was, was called Docetism. 00:18:57.619 --> 00:19:01.519 And Docetism taught that Jesus was really not 00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:05.380 human. Because they thought the body is bad, 00:19:05.740 --> 00:19:09.940 the material world is bad, it's just... It's 00:19:09.940 --> 00:19:12.859 imperfect, but the spiritual world is perfect. 00:19:13.259 --> 00:19:17.359 So how could a spiritual being become a human? 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:21.819 No, that cannot be. So they thought that Jesus 00:19:21.819 --> 00:19:25.980 only appeared to be human, but he wasn't really 00:19:25.980 --> 00:19:30.940 a human like you and me. Eventually, there was 00:19:30.940 --> 00:19:34.220 another distortion that started appearing that 00:19:34.220 --> 00:19:38.359 was taught by Gnosticism. Gnosticism were a group 00:19:38.359 --> 00:19:40.559 of people that would claim, and we still have 00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:43.460 Gnostics today, by the way, that they received 00:19:43.460 --> 00:19:47.119 special revelation from God by their spirit guides. 00:19:47.380 --> 00:19:50.140 And the spirit guides tell them really what is 00:19:50.140 --> 00:19:52.519 really true. Nobody else knows, but I do because 00:19:52.519 --> 00:19:57.980 I received it. And Gnosticism taught that Jesus 00:19:57.980 --> 00:20:04.220 was just an enlightened man. He was a man, the 00:20:04.220 --> 00:20:09.549 man Jesus. Who at some point, probably during 00:20:09.549 --> 00:20:13.210 his baptism, he became indwelled by this divine 00:20:13.210 --> 00:20:17.710 being of the Messiah. And this divine being, 00:20:17.750 --> 00:20:20.309 the Christ, came to live in Jesus at that moment. 00:20:20.390 --> 00:20:23.009 And then you fast forward a few years and now 00:20:23.009 --> 00:20:25.690 Jesus is on the cross. And at that moment on 00:20:25.690 --> 00:20:30.450 the cross, this spirit of Christ leaves him. 00:20:31.089 --> 00:20:35.549 And now the human Jesus dies. So really, the 00:20:35.549 --> 00:20:39.529 Messiah didn't die because he is perfect. He's 00:20:39.529 --> 00:20:45.690 a spirit. So Jesus was just an enlightened man 00:20:45.690 --> 00:20:50.609 who didn't really die for our sins. Jesus died, 00:20:50.809 --> 00:20:55.049 but Christ didn't. Wow, it gets weird, doesn't 00:20:55.049 --> 00:21:01.609 it? And then, later, another teaching that started 00:21:01.609 --> 00:21:06.980 infiltrating the church, was called Arianism. 00:21:07.880 --> 00:21:13.099 Arian thought that Jesus was not God. He was 00:21:13.099 --> 00:21:16.900 a human, but he was not God. He would say there 00:21:16.900 --> 00:21:20.619 was a point in history in which Jesus was not. 00:21:22.059 --> 00:21:25.019 And if there was a time in which Jesus was not, 00:21:25.220 --> 00:21:29.359 it means that Jesus is not eternal, and if he 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:34.029 was created, then he's a creature. And therefore, 00:21:34.210 --> 00:21:38.769 the different teachings about Jesus being created 00:21:38.769 --> 00:21:42.730 come from this root of Aaronism. And we are talking 00:21:42.730 --> 00:21:48.670 about the early church, 1st century, 2nd century, 00:21:48.910 --> 00:21:52.089 all the way to 4th century. Just at the very 00:21:52.089 --> 00:21:54.750 beginning of the church, all of these distortions 00:21:54.750 --> 00:21:59.529 started happening already. You can see how some 00:21:59.529 --> 00:22:02.380 of the distortions still remain today. As I said 00:22:02.380 --> 00:22:05.980 for Micah, he was taught that Jesus was a created 00:22:05.980 --> 00:22:10.839 being. There's another group that is very well 00:22:10.839 --> 00:22:12.980 known in different countries. It's called the 00:22:12.980 --> 00:22:16.279 Jehovah Witnesses. Jehovah Witnesses also teach 00:22:16.279 --> 00:22:20.299 that Jesus was a created being. In fact, they 00:22:20.299 --> 00:22:24.240 teach that Jesus was their archangel Michael, 00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:31.569 who became incarnated and is Jesus. All of these 00:22:31.569 --> 00:22:36.470 different teachings have invaded the church throughout 00:22:36.470 --> 00:22:40.130 the centuries. And Christian leaders, especially 00:22:40.130 --> 00:22:42.369 at the beginning of the church, they engaged 00:22:42.369 --> 00:22:44.430 to talk about all of these things to be able 00:22:44.430 --> 00:22:47.650 to ensure that they were thinking through these 00:22:47.650 --> 00:22:51.750 things biblically because the word of God, the 00:22:51.750 --> 00:22:57.160 Bible, is the source of truth. And as they engaged 00:22:57.160 --> 00:22:59.940 throughout these first centuries in going through 00:22:59.940 --> 00:23:02.559 these things, something emerged that was very 00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:06.299 clear. Look at the book of Hebrews, for instance, 00:23:06.660 --> 00:23:09.259 where it's discussing the humanity of Jesus. 00:23:09.819 --> 00:23:13.299 Listen to what it says. Because God's children 00:23:13.299 --> 00:23:16.960 are human beings made of flesh and blood, the 00:23:16.960 --> 00:23:22.200 son also became flesh and blood. For only as 00:23:22.200 --> 00:23:25.900 a human being could he die. And only by dying 00:23:25.900 --> 00:23:28.519 could he break the power of the devil who had 00:23:28.519 --> 00:23:34.059 the power of death. Only in this way could he 00:23:34.059 --> 00:23:38.259 set free all who have lived their lives as slaves 00:23:38.259 --> 00:23:41.819 to their fear of dying. We also know that this 00:23:41.819 --> 00:23:45.980 son did not come to help angels. He came to help 00:23:45.980 --> 00:23:48.880 the descendants of Abraham. Therefore, it was 00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:52.880 necessary for him to be made in every respect 00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:56.559 like us. his brothers and sisters, so that he 00:23:56.559 --> 00:23:59.839 could be our merciful and faithful high priest 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:05.400 before God, then he could offer a sacrifice that 00:24:05.400 --> 00:24:10.880 would take away the sins of the people. As you 00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:14.779 see here, he concludes saying, since he himself 00:24:14.779 --> 00:24:18.140 has gone through suffering and testing, he is 00:24:18.140 --> 00:24:24.170 able to help us when we are being tested. Did 00:24:24.170 --> 00:24:26.109 you pay attention to what the Bible says about 00:24:26.109 --> 00:24:31.890 the humanity of Jesus? Is Jesus a human? Yes. 00:24:32.450 --> 00:24:35.289 So the idea that Jesus was not really a human 00:24:35.289 --> 00:24:39.250 doesn't fly. The Bible says no. He had to be 00:24:39.250 --> 00:24:45.170 like us in every way except for sin. So that 00:24:45.170 --> 00:24:49.130 he could then break the power of Satan that he 00:24:49.130 --> 00:24:53.259 had over humanity. So he went from within. and 00:24:53.259 --> 00:24:58.900 destroy that power. Very interesting. That's 00:24:58.900 --> 00:25:05.099 why one of the first efforts to try to eliminate 00:25:05.099 --> 00:25:08.400 this false teaching from infiltrating the church 00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:12.980 came through lots of meetings and writings, and 00:25:12.980 --> 00:25:15.759 one of the famous Christian leaders from that 00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:18.440 first generation of Christians after the apostles, 00:25:18.779 --> 00:25:22.390 Irenaeus, He summarized the core of this concept 00:25:22.390 --> 00:25:25.829 by saying this, Jesus Christ became what we are, 00:25:25.970 --> 00:25:31.829 humans, that he might make us what he himself 00:25:31.829 --> 00:25:35.329 is. Like the Apostle John says, we will be like 00:25:35.329 --> 00:25:38.190 he is. We will experience the glorification of 00:25:38.190 --> 00:25:41.109 our bodies. We will experience resurrection. 00:25:41.509 --> 00:25:44.170 All of these things because of what Jesus has 00:25:44.170 --> 00:25:47.730 done. So you can see that at the very beginning, 00:25:47.869 --> 00:25:51.289 the first Christian leaders really addressed 00:25:51.289 --> 00:25:53.950 this distortion and said, no, no, no. Jesus is 00:25:53.950 --> 00:25:56.789 human. He has to be. Otherwise, he could not 00:25:56.789 --> 00:26:00.329 be the Savior. To be Savior, he has to be human. 00:26:02.329 --> 00:26:06.549 But then, the other problem was, well, what if 00:26:06.549 --> 00:26:10.829 Jesus is human, but he is not God? And that is 00:26:10.829 --> 00:26:13.809 where the Scriptures also have spoken through 00:26:13.809 --> 00:26:18.710 that, particularly, In the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 00:26:18.710 --> 00:26:22.049 said this. There is no other God. This is God 00:26:22.049 --> 00:26:26.329 talking. There is no other God. There never has 00:26:26.329 --> 00:26:32.829 been. And there never will be. I. Yes. I am the 00:26:32.829 --> 00:26:42.009 Lord. And there is no other. What? Savior. There 00:26:42.009 --> 00:26:45.400 is no other Savior. But me. And there's only 00:26:45.400 --> 00:26:49.299 one God. In the past and the future. That will 00:26:49.299 --> 00:26:56.920 never change. And that's me. So wait. Therefore 00:26:56.920 --> 00:27:01.099 if only God can save. It means that Jesus. Cannot 00:27:01.099 --> 00:27:04.240 be just human. Because he's just human. He cannot 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:08.359 be savior. He also has to be God. Because only 00:27:08.359 --> 00:27:12.160 God is savior. And you must remember. That when 00:27:12.160 --> 00:27:15.500 Jesus. performs this miracle and says to the 00:27:15.500 --> 00:27:18.559 paralytic man, your sins are forgiven, the Pharisees 00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:22.440 listening to him say, who can, what does he think 00:27:22.440 --> 00:27:25.519 he is? Only God can forgive sins. Precisely. 00:27:26.240 --> 00:27:29.599 And that's why this teaching that Jesus was an 00:27:29.599 --> 00:27:34.700 enlightened human or that the divine being of 00:27:34.700 --> 00:27:39.619 Christ came into this human Jesus or that Jesus 00:27:39.619 --> 00:27:45.680 was a created being rather than creator, could 00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:50.000 not fly. And these distortions therefore become 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.380 completely addressed early in the history of 00:27:54.380 --> 00:27:58.099 Christianity. And one of the famous writers during 00:27:58.099 --> 00:28:01.960 this time that was able to summarize these arguments, 00:28:02.220 --> 00:28:07.079 building on the previous centuries, was Athanasius. 00:28:07.869 --> 00:28:11.390 And he summarized this by saying, if the world 00:28:11.390 --> 00:28:14.809 were a creature, he could not have created us. 00:28:14.990 --> 00:28:17.970 And if he is not God, he could not have remade 00:28:17.970 --> 00:28:22.950 us. And that's how he summarizes the two sides 00:28:22.950 --> 00:28:27.309 of who Jesus is. He is human like us because 00:28:27.309 --> 00:28:29.710 only by being a human like us, he could destroy 00:28:29.710 --> 00:28:33.940 the power of Satan. But only God can save. There's 00:28:33.940 --> 00:28:36.859 no other Savior but God. Therefore, he has to 00:28:36.859 --> 00:28:40.119 be God in order to save. And that is where you 00:28:40.119 --> 00:28:45.240 have these things. That's why you have to be 00:28:45.240 --> 00:28:48.799 very careful. Not everybody that says, oh, I'm 00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:52.420 a Christian, is really a Christian. Because the 00:28:52.420 --> 00:28:57.200 distortions of who Jesus is are plenty. And there 00:28:57.200 --> 00:28:59.700 are many groups throughout church history that 00:28:59.700 --> 00:29:04.099 have abandoned the truth of the scriptures. And 00:29:04.099 --> 00:29:06.980 they have created their own versions of who Jesus 00:29:06.980 --> 00:29:10.380 is. That's why the Apostle Paul will write this 00:29:10.380 --> 00:29:12.960 foundation in the book of Colossians chapter 00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:17.539 1. And this passage of Colossians chapter 1 is 00:29:17.539 --> 00:29:21.819 one of the classic, most elaborate descriptions 00:29:21.819 --> 00:29:26.720 of who Jesus is in addition. To John chapter 00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:30.779 1. Let's see what the apostle Paul tells them. 00:29:32.519 --> 00:29:37.359 First thing. He says Jesus is God. He doesn't 00:29:37.359 --> 00:29:41.579 just appear to be God. He is. And he starts by 00:29:41.579 --> 00:29:45.819 simply saying this. Christ is the visible image 00:29:45.819 --> 00:29:51.119 of the invisible God. Because with the pagan 00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:54.170 teaching. They were undermining the identity 00:29:54.170 --> 00:29:57.589 of who Jesus was. With the spirit world, the 00:29:57.589 --> 00:30:00.829 spirit worship, all of these things. And he says, 00:30:00.849 --> 00:30:06.369 no, no. Jesus is a very visible image of the 00:30:06.369 --> 00:30:09.329 invisible God. Do you remember when Jesus is 00:30:09.329 --> 00:30:12.589 with the apostles and Philip says, Jesus, show 00:30:12.589 --> 00:30:15.730 us the Father? And Jesus turns to him and says, 00:30:15.789 --> 00:30:18.329 Philip, I've been with you all this time and 00:30:18.329 --> 00:30:20.700 you asked me that question? Did you understand 00:30:20.700 --> 00:30:22.920 that if you have seen me, you have seen the Father? 00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:33.559 Paul says Jesus is the very image of God. And 00:30:33.559 --> 00:30:38.059 then he says the second thing. Jesus is the creator. 00:30:39.480 --> 00:30:43.859 And he's going to say it this way. He, meaning 00:30:43.859 --> 00:30:49.079 Jesus, existed before anything was created. And 00:30:49.079 --> 00:31:16.799 is supreme over all creation. any demonic spirit 00:31:16.799 --> 00:31:21.700 that rebelled against God, even Satan, who is 00:31:21.700 --> 00:31:26.140 one of the authorities, who created these spirits? 00:31:27.099 --> 00:31:32.839 Oh, Paul says, Jesus created all of these things, 00:31:32.880 --> 00:31:35.839 the things we can see, the ones that we cannot 00:31:35.839 --> 00:31:39.000 see, including thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and 00:31:39.000 --> 00:31:42.539 authorities in the unseen world. Jesus and Satan 00:31:42.539 --> 00:31:46.539 are not brothers. Jesus created all these beings. 00:31:48.859 --> 00:31:54.279 He existed before anything else. And he holds 00:31:54.279 --> 00:31:58.900 all creation together. This is one of the things 00:31:58.900 --> 00:32:02.720 that physicists can only see but they cannot 00:32:02.720 --> 00:32:07.079 explain. What is the force, the atomic force 00:32:07.079 --> 00:32:10.359 that keeps all the atoms and cells together? 00:32:12.400 --> 00:32:15.599 Without that force, everything would disintegrate. 00:32:15.680 --> 00:32:18.839 They know that. They just do not know what causes 00:32:18.839 --> 00:32:22.700 this power to bring everything together and hold 00:32:22.700 --> 00:32:27.539 it. And Paul says, Jesus existed before anything 00:32:27.539 --> 00:32:31.799 else and he holds all creation together. It's 00:32:31.799 --> 00:32:38.839 his power. And in that section, he basically 00:32:38.839 --> 00:32:42.450 says, When you think of Jesus, you have to think 00:32:42.450 --> 00:32:48.470 of Jesus as the designer of the airplane. He 00:32:48.470 --> 00:32:51.769 designed it. He built it. He designed flying. 00:32:52.069 --> 00:32:57.450 He is the mastermind. He is not just a pilot. 00:32:59.069 --> 00:33:02.509 And when you understand that, something happens 00:33:02.509 --> 00:33:05.150 in your life because now you are able to follow 00:33:05.150 --> 00:33:08.230 Jesus with so much more confidence. He is not 00:33:08.230 --> 00:33:11.910 just your Savior, but He is your Creator. He 00:33:11.910 --> 00:33:17.650 holds you together. Now, there's something that 00:33:17.650 --> 00:33:21.049 you must know. And this is because I'm trying 00:33:21.049 --> 00:33:23.829 to equip you with understanding through the study 00:33:23.829 --> 00:33:28.269 of Colossians. This passage that we just read, 00:33:28.390 --> 00:33:32.130 verse 15, He exists before anything was created 00:33:32.130 --> 00:33:36.539 and is supreme over all creation. That highlighted 00:33:36.539 --> 00:33:41.579 word supreme is a specific Greek word. Let me 00:33:41.579 --> 00:33:43.319 read it from here because I cannot see that far. 00:33:44.019 --> 00:33:48.420 Prototokos. The word prototokos is the word that 00:33:48.420 --> 00:33:54.779 is translated as firstborn. Firstborn. In the 00:33:54.779 --> 00:33:57.480 Jewish culture, the first child, the first son 00:33:57.480 --> 00:34:02.119 that was born had special privileges and rights 00:34:02.119 --> 00:34:05.069 compared to the other children. And that's why 00:34:05.069 --> 00:34:09.190 this word, prototokos, became a word that was 00:34:09.190 --> 00:34:12.590 also the meaning of supremacy. You are supreme 00:34:12.590 --> 00:34:18.289 over the others. But this is where Jehovah's 00:34:18.289 --> 00:34:20.489 Witnesses say, oh no, no, he was the first person 00:34:20.489 --> 00:34:25.690 to be born in all creation. That's why Jesus 00:34:25.690 --> 00:34:31.170 is created. But what they don't understand, linguistically 00:34:31.170 --> 00:34:35.739 and contextually, is that this word means supremacy. 00:34:37.219 --> 00:34:40.360 And there's another word that exists in the Greek 00:34:40.360 --> 00:34:43.880 language that specifically means the first created, 00:34:44.119 --> 00:34:48.380 and that is protoktistos. Protoktistos is a specific 00:34:48.380 --> 00:34:51.519 word that he could have used to say, oh, he was 00:34:51.519 --> 00:34:53.920 the first created being, if that's what he meant. 00:34:55.760 --> 00:34:57.880 And it's not that I'm trying to do gymnastics 00:34:57.880 --> 00:35:03.599 here with the text. We do the same thing with 00:35:03.599 --> 00:35:07.380 English. We use the word first, right? Who arrived 00:35:07.380 --> 00:35:11.260 first? Meaning, who was the first person that 00:35:11.260 --> 00:35:14.480 came? Chronology, right? First come, first served. 00:35:14.619 --> 00:35:19.659 The first person that arrived. Chronology. First 00:35:19.659 --> 00:35:23.559 place, second place. First, okay. Now we're talking 00:35:23.559 --> 00:35:28.460 about supremacy. But wait. What do we call the 00:35:28.460 --> 00:35:34.519 president's wife? The first lady. Was she the 00:35:34.519 --> 00:35:38.559 first lady ever to exist? Was she the first created 00:35:38.559 --> 00:35:42.380 woman in the history of the country? No, of course 00:35:42.380 --> 00:35:47.039 not. It means a position of supremacy because 00:35:47.039 --> 00:35:49.380 she is the wife of the president who has the 00:35:49.380 --> 00:35:53.119 most power of all the citizens of this country. 00:35:54.030 --> 00:35:57.309 So we use the word first as supremacy and Paul 00:35:57.309 --> 00:36:00.690 is doing exactly the same thing because the use 00:36:00.690 --> 00:36:04.110 of that word has that meaning as well. That's 00:36:04.110 --> 00:36:07.369 why the reading that he is supreme over all creation 00:36:07.369 --> 00:36:10.789 is the only reading and any translation that 00:36:10.789 --> 00:36:13.809 says something different is doing gymnastics 00:36:13.809 --> 00:36:16.489 with the text. And I wanted you to know that. 00:36:17.159 --> 00:36:19.760 So that you understand these things. Perhaps 00:36:19.760 --> 00:36:23.360 your translation says he is the firstborn over 00:36:23.360 --> 00:36:25.260 all creation, and that's a legit translation. 00:36:26.039 --> 00:36:28.539 But that means he's supreme over all creation. 00:36:30.780 --> 00:36:32.960 And then the next thing that the Apostle Paul 00:36:32.960 --> 00:36:36.519 says is that Jesus is Lord, not just creator, 00:36:36.920 --> 00:36:40.360 and created everything that exists, and he existed 00:36:40.360 --> 00:36:44.500 before anything was created, but he is Lord of 00:36:44.500 --> 00:36:47.980 all. And he's going to say it like this. Christ 00:36:47.980 --> 00:36:51.519 is also the head of the church, which is his 00:36:51.519 --> 00:36:54.579 body. Who is the supreme authority over the church? 00:36:56.159 --> 00:36:59.440 Christ. One of the funny things that people ask 00:36:59.440 --> 00:37:02.739 me when they know that I'm a pastor. They say, 00:37:02.800 --> 00:37:05.940 so how big is your church? All the time. That's 00:37:05.940 --> 00:37:07.880 one of the typical questions that people ask. 00:37:08.019 --> 00:37:10.820 How big is your church? And I think. It's not 00:37:10.820 --> 00:37:14.420 my church. It's Jesus' church. And who cares 00:37:14.420 --> 00:37:17.659 the size of the church? We are all sheep. So 00:37:17.659 --> 00:37:20.400 one sheep or a thousand sheep are all equally 00:37:20.400 --> 00:37:25.500 important. But the apostle Paul says, look, Jesus 00:37:25.500 --> 00:37:30.699 is the Lord of the church. He is the beginning. 00:37:31.630 --> 00:37:34.869 Supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he 00:37:34.869 --> 00:37:38.090 is first in everything. He brought the resurrection 00:37:38.090 --> 00:37:40.750 of the dead. That we will experience as the new 00:37:40.750 --> 00:37:44.690 humanity. He is supreme. He is Lord over his 00:37:44.690 --> 00:37:48.389 church. This new humanity. That he has enabled. 00:37:49.250 --> 00:37:53.510 Because as the man God. Jesus. Who died on the 00:37:53.510 --> 00:37:56.389 cross for our sins. He was able to break the 00:37:56.389 --> 00:38:01.920 power of Satan. And then. The apostle Paul says, 00:38:02.119 --> 00:38:06.579 Jesus is the true savior. For God in all his 00:38:06.579 --> 00:38:12.300 fullness was pleased to live in Christ. And through 00:38:12.300 --> 00:38:16.840 him, God reconciled everything to himself. Everything. 00:38:17.440 --> 00:38:21.360 He made peace with everything in heaven and on 00:38:21.360 --> 00:38:25.079 earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross. 00:38:25.760 --> 00:38:32.909 Jesus really died. It was truly his flesh and 00:38:32.909 --> 00:38:37.289 blood. And because he truly died for your sins. 00:38:37.570 --> 00:38:42.969 He has reconciled you to God. And now you are 00:38:42.969 --> 00:38:47.690 able to experience his grace 100%. And his peace 00:38:47.690 --> 00:38:56.829 100%. Because he is the true savior. And this 00:38:56.829 --> 00:38:59.969 is what Paul tells the Colossians. If you don't 00:38:59.969 --> 00:39:02.650 understand who the pilot of your airplane is, 00:39:02.869 --> 00:39:06.550 you will not experience grace and peace. But 00:39:06.550 --> 00:39:09.210 once you understand that the pilot of your life 00:39:09.210 --> 00:39:13.710 is God, He created you, He is Lord over everything, 00:39:13.869 --> 00:39:19.969 and He is your absolute Savior, then you will 00:39:19.969 --> 00:39:23.349 be able to start experiencing grace rather than 00:39:23.349 --> 00:39:28.449 shame, and peace rather than fear. Because this 00:39:28.449 --> 00:39:33.530 Jesus is the one that holds you. This is the 00:39:33.530 --> 00:39:36.670 one that guides you. This is the one that's already 00:39:36.670 --> 00:39:41.090 in your future. So you can live with complete 00:39:41.090 --> 00:39:46.050 confidence rooted in Christ and become that solid 00:39:46.050 --> 00:39:54.429 tree that has nothing to fear. This changes everything. 00:39:55.949 --> 00:40:00.349 Because the center of my universe is not the 00:40:00.349 --> 00:40:03.329 boyfriend or the children or the parents of my 00:40:03.329 --> 00:40:10.170 career. It's Jesus. He is the one that I live 00:40:10.170 --> 00:40:14.769 for. That's what the Apostle Paul said to the 00:40:14.769 --> 00:40:18.610 Christians of the first century. Whether by living 00:40:18.610 --> 00:40:25.929 or dying, our goal is to please Him. Is Jesus 00:40:25.929 --> 00:40:31.610 the center of your universe? Or you don't realize 00:40:31.610 --> 00:40:36.409 who Jesus truly is. Therefore, you have all the 00:40:36.409 --> 00:40:38.309 things that are the center of your universe. 00:40:40.030 --> 00:40:43.829 Everything changes when Jesus is who he truly 00:40:43.829 --> 00:40:47.210 is. And he belongs in the right place of supremacy 00:40:47.210 --> 00:40:51.289 in our lives. So let me conclude the study with 00:40:51.289 --> 00:40:54.340 these three implications. And these implications 00:40:54.340 --> 00:40:59.159 come also from Christians that have walked this 00:40:59.159 --> 00:41:02.300 journey before us. And they are no longer here 00:41:02.300 --> 00:41:05.599 walking on earth because they are already with 00:41:05.599 --> 00:41:12.780 their Savior, Creator, Redeemer, Lord. The first 00:41:12.780 --> 00:41:17.679 implication is that if Jesus is not your Savior, 00:41:17.880 --> 00:41:23.219 then you need to seek Jesus. Perhaps you are 00:41:23.219 --> 00:41:26.159 listening to this study today and you are a person 00:41:26.159 --> 00:41:29.659 who is just wondering more about God. There's 00:41:29.659 --> 00:41:32.920 a hunger you have and you are exploring and you 00:41:32.920 --> 00:41:36.159 want to know, is this Jesus thing true? Is the 00:41:36.159 --> 00:41:38.239 Bible true? What is this whole Christian thing 00:41:38.239 --> 00:41:44.139 about? If you are in that journey, let me share 00:41:44.139 --> 00:41:47.400 with you this quote from Blaise Pascal, who was 00:41:47.400 --> 00:41:51.460 a French scientist. Who was able to put into 00:41:51.460 --> 00:41:56.719 words that experience that you are in. He says 00:41:56.719 --> 00:41:59.780 there is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of 00:41:59.780 --> 00:42:03.340 each man. Which cannot be satisfied by any created 00:42:03.340 --> 00:42:08.079 thing. But only by God the creator may known 00:42:08.079 --> 00:42:12.599 through Jesus Christ. That emptiness, that lack 00:42:12.599 --> 00:42:16.829 of peace. That lack of grace that you have in 00:42:16.829 --> 00:42:21.690 your life is simply because there's a vacuum, 00:42:21.809 --> 00:42:25.150 an emptiness there that only Jesus, your creator 00:42:25.150 --> 00:42:29.489 and savior, can fill. And until you surrender 00:42:29.489 --> 00:42:34.510 to him and you start following him, you will 00:42:34.510 --> 00:42:36.809 continue to have that emptiness and it doesn't 00:42:36.809 --> 00:42:39.550 matter what you try to fill it with, it will 00:42:39.550 --> 00:42:45.710 never be filled. That is why Jesus came. So that 00:42:45.710 --> 00:42:48.909 he can be your savior. And you can experience 00:42:48.909 --> 00:42:57.809 his grace and his peace 100%. Seek Jesus. And 00:42:57.809 --> 00:43:00.349 if today is the day for you to come to God and 00:43:00.349 --> 00:43:05.829 say, Lord Jesus, would you save me? Now is the 00:43:05.829 --> 00:43:08.829 day to do it. As we close in worship later today. 00:43:09.190 --> 00:43:12.050 As we have time to pray for each other. If you 00:43:12.050 --> 00:43:14.750 are seeking Jesus and you have not yet made that 00:43:14.750 --> 00:43:19.570 commitment with him, today is the day. Secondly, 00:43:19.710 --> 00:43:26.710 love Jesus. If you are following Jesus and you 00:43:26.710 --> 00:43:29.090 think he is the center of your universe and you 00:43:29.090 --> 00:43:32.630 are serving Jesus in different things, I want 00:43:32.630 --> 00:43:35.929 to share this with you who is either a missionary, 00:43:36.130 --> 00:43:39.650 a pastor, a person serving in some kind of ministry 00:43:39.650 --> 00:43:45.039 capacity. It is very easy for people in this 00:43:45.039 --> 00:43:49.260 context to confuse God's kingdom with their own. 00:43:49.780 --> 00:43:53.039 And before you know it, that which you are building 00:43:53.039 --> 00:43:57.460 has become your kingdom, your territory, your 00:43:57.460 --> 00:44:01.059 ministry. And when people ask you, how big is 00:44:01.059 --> 00:44:03.400 your church? You don't even think twice about 00:44:03.400 --> 00:44:06.260 how wrong that question is. You immediately answer 00:44:06.260 --> 00:44:08.260 it because you want people to know, yeah, this 00:44:08.260 --> 00:44:11.119 is my church and I'm a successful pastor because 00:44:11.119 --> 00:44:16.699 my church is big. If you're in that space, watch 00:44:16.699 --> 00:44:21.239 out. Because one of the things that we learn 00:44:21.239 --> 00:44:25.860 in following Jesus is that you can start doing 00:44:25.860 --> 00:44:29.079 things for Jesus while you're no longer loving 00:44:29.079 --> 00:44:32.900 him because you're loving just yourself. And 00:44:32.900 --> 00:44:36.619 that It's going to bring anger. It's going to 00:44:36.619 --> 00:44:39.500 bring stress. And you're going to become controlling 00:44:39.500 --> 00:44:42.079 because this is your ministry, your position, 00:44:42.380 --> 00:44:48.500 your church, your baby. That's why I love this 00:44:48.500 --> 00:44:51.159 quote from Oswald Chambers, who was a Scottish 00:44:51.159 --> 00:44:55.739 minister and teacher. He says, the greatest competitor 00:44:55.739 --> 00:44:59.719 of devotion to Jesus is the service we do for 00:44:59.719 --> 00:45:04.699 him. It's not your kingdom. It's his. It's not 00:45:04.699 --> 00:45:08.679 your glory. It's his. It's not your power. It's 00:45:08.679 --> 00:45:15.139 his. Love Jesus. And if it's time to let go of 00:45:15.139 --> 00:45:18.119 the things that he had entrusted you. Then let 00:45:18.119 --> 00:45:20.780 go. You are giving it back to where it belongs. 00:45:21.059 --> 00:45:25.480 His hands. And it's going to be okay. But finally. 00:45:27.760 --> 00:45:32.409 Rest in Jesus. If you are going through a time 00:45:32.409 --> 00:45:35.269 of turbulence in your airplane, don't freak out. 00:45:36.550 --> 00:45:40.710 Jesus is the pilot. And one of the things that 00:45:40.710 --> 00:45:44.030 you will discover is that in the most difficult 00:45:44.030 --> 00:45:46.989 circumstances, when your worst fears become true, 00:45:47.130 --> 00:45:51.289 there's a person there with you that is bigger 00:45:51.289 --> 00:45:54.929 and deeper than your fears. And his name is Jesus. 00:45:55.809 --> 00:45:59.849 That's why I love this quote from Corey. Ten. 00:45:59.849 --> 00:46:05.550 Boom. She survived the holocaust. And after suffering 00:46:05.550 --> 00:46:10.710 so much. She wrote these words. You may never 00:46:10.710 --> 00:46:14.429 know that Jesus is all you need. Until Jesus 00:46:14.429 --> 00:46:19.610 is all you have. And I know that the time will 00:46:19.610 --> 00:46:24.489 come. In which you will be in that bed. At the 00:46:24.489 --> 00:46:29.820 hospital in your home. Away just. Very short 00:46:29.820 --> 00:46:32.619 time from the Lord. Because the Lord will be 00:46:32.619 --> 00:46:36.800 calling you home. And at that moment. It doesn't 00:46:36.800 --> 00:46:39.099 matter how much money you had. How successful 00:46:39.099 --> 00:46:41.639 you were in your life. The only thing that matters 00:46:41.639 --> 00:46:47.039 is. Do you know Jesus? And if you know Jesus. 00:46:47.079 --> 00:46:51.019 And Jesus is all you have. Then Jesus is all 00:46:51.019 --> 00:46:55.059 you need. Because Paul just told us in Colossians. 00:46:55.280 --> 00:47:01.579 It's not Jesus plus. It's Jesus. Period. So when 00:47:01.579 --> 00:47:04.780 you are in that moment, remember that it's not 00:47:04.780 --> 00:47:08.019 your good works, your efforts, your accomplishments. 00:47:08.739 --> 00:47:15.239 It's Jesus. Creator. Jesus. Savior. Jesus. Lord. 00:47:15.800 --> 00:47:23.260 Jesus. God. He is the one that has you. So you 00:47:23.260 --> 00:47:28.679 will be okay. This. It's what the Apostle Paul 00:47:28.679 --> 00:47:30.840 wrote in Colossians. And this is why this matters. 00:47:32.380 --> 00:47:36.699 Do you know Jesus? Do you have a truthful picture 00:47:36.699 --> 00:47:40.619 of who Jesus is? And is Jesus the center of your 00:47:40.619 --> 00:47:44.179 universe? If he's not the center of your universe, 00:47:44.219 --> 00:47:47.760 then who or what is? Is that bringing you peace 00:47:47.760 --> 00:47:54.329 or stress? God wants you. To experience his grace 00:47:54.329 --> 00:47:56.530 and his peace. And you will not experience it. 00:47:56.590 --> 00:47:59.409 Until Jesus is the true center of your universe. 00:48:00.050 --> 00:48:02.849 That's why if this picture. Captures more how 00:48:02.849 --> 00:48:07.110 you are feeling. Then it's time. That you turn 00:48:07.110 --> 00:48:13.429 to Jesus. Lord. If you do not become one like 00:48:13.429 --> 00:48:22.420 us. And if you do not leave your throne. To become 00:48:22.420 --> 00:48:26.480 one like us. We will not be standing here. In 00:48:26.480 --> 00:48:29.900 your presence today. We will be lost. In our 00:48:29.900 --> 00:48:35.159 sins. But you have invited us. To experience. 00:48:36.579 --> 00:48:39.460 Your peace and your grace. And am I asking you 00:48:39.460 --> 00:48:42.699 Lord. As we worship you. And declare this truth. 00:48:44.260 --> 00:48:46.800 Will you encounter us in this space. So that 00:48:46.800 --> 00:48:50.980 the shame. And the fear. That has hold us back. 00:48:51.550 --> 00:48:54.969 The deception that has distorted who you are 00:48:54.969 --> 00:48:59.530 will be broken once and for all in your presence. 00:48:59.949 --> 00:49:14.929 In Jesus' name. If you are looking for community 00:49:14.929 --> 00:49:18.809 or are in need of prayer, we welcome you to engage 00:49:18.809 --> 00:49:23.650 by sending us an email to office at ecb .asia. 00:49:24.190 --> 00:49:27.289 If God is calling you to support our ministries, 00:49:27.309 --> 00:49:29.989 you will find giving options on our website. 00:49:30.809 --> 00:49:34.250 And remember to join us next week. God bless 00:49:34.250 --> 00:49:34.469 you.