Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is
an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,
with dozens of nationalities worshiping together.
We invite you to connect with us from wherever
you are through our website, ecb .asia, or our
mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed
by this week's sermon. We started the book of
Colossians last week. So if you missed the first
study, you can go back to our app or go to the
website and you can see the whole study there
as well. So today we'll be doing the second session
of the study. And it's going to take us all the
way through July and part of August as well.
Let's pray together. Hallelujah to the Lamb.
As we sang, Lord, just now. It's your kingdom,
not ours. Your glory. Your purpose. And I ask
that as we study your word today, our eyes will
be even more open to understand and see your
truth. So that we will experience the grace,
the peace that you came to give us. Unhindered.
In Jesus' name, I ask you, would you use me in
your power and in your grace? In the name of
our Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen. Okay, because
this is the second session of the study, I want
to start by doing a little review. And in the
review, what is different is that you give me
the answers. You see that? Okay, so let's see
how this goes. But the clicker is not working
for some reason. Can you just double check? System
is all proper? Okay, there. So, first question,
in what modern day nation is Colossae located?
Turkey, yeah, Turkey. And that area of Turkey
during the time of the apostles was known as
Asia Minor, right? Whole region. And the second
question, which epistles did Paul write from
prison, which are known as the Prison epistles.
You need to know at least two of them, because
we just studied them last week. Okay? Colossians,
Philemon, those two that were being sent together.
And what are the other two? Ephesians and? Philippians,
yeah, good. So Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians,
Philemon. And it was during the time in prison
that the apostle Paul hears about the church
of Colossae, which he had not planted. And this
guy that comes to tell him the report about it,
tell him everything that is happening. And that's
why Paul writes the letter to encourage that
church. And also he led Onesimus to Christ in
prison, who was the slave that escaped from Philemon.
Who was his friend. And now Paul writes to his
friend Philemon to welcome Onesimus back now
as a brother in Christ. So those were the two
letters that come together from prison right
there. Now the last question. What are the two
legs of the Christian walk that Paul wanted the
Colossians to experience? Grace and peace. And
grace and peace were the two things that were
being compromised because of the teaching of
the Judaizers as well as the pagan teaching that
was infiltrating the church. So the Apostle Paul
writes to the Colossians to make sure that they
experience grace and peace. I didn't let all
this false teaching change the truth and the
way they are experiencing the Lord. So are you
experiencing grace and peace? Some false teaching
has compromised your understanding of who God
is. And therefore there's no grace and there's
no peace. That's why this study is so significant
for all of us as we go through each week. It's
because the same thing the Apostle Paul wanted
the Colossians to experience is what God wants
you to experience. His grace, his peace, the
two legs of the Christian walk. That's why in
the first study what the Apostle Paul does is
that he tells the Colossians, look, let me explain
salvation to you. And he completely reframes
salvation in a very specific way. He says, you
will move from the kingdom of darkness now to
the kingdom of Jesus, the kingdom of light. And
before you were God's enemies, but now you've
been completely reconciled with God 100%. So
as he starts teaching them about what salvation
is, He wants them to understand the foundation
for grace and peace. But today, he is going to
now reframe Jesus for them. Because if they don't
understand who Jesus truly is, their ability
to experience God's grace and peace will be compromised
as well. And that is going to be the focus of
today's study. So I would like to start by asking
you a question. Who or what is the center of
your universe? You are living your life and there's
something at the center. What is it? Did I hear
somebody say my boyfriend? Okay. Yeah, that happens.
Oh, somebody else said what? Your children. Right.
Your children can be the center of your universe.
You live just for them. Or your parents. Yeah,
you are living just to please your parents, make
sure that they are happy with you and then caring
for them. Right. What else? Or your career. Right.
Your career can be the center of your universe.
You are living just to make sure that you retire
well with enough money so that when you get all
sick and have to go to the hospital and die there,
you have enough money to cover everything. Right?
We all have a center of our universe. And what
we're going to learn today is that Jesus wants
to be the center of your universe. And if he
is not the center of your universe, your ability
to experience his grace and his peace is going
to be compromised. But in order to have Jesus
as the center of our universe, we have to understand
who Jesus is. And any misconception about Jesus
can indeed compromise your ability to experience
his grace and peace. Let me put it this way.
Imagine that the next flight you take, no matter
where in the world you're going to be flying,
as you are getting ready to take off, you hear
the flight attendant saying, Dear passengers,
today is a special day. I want you to join me
in welcoming our new pilot. Please, clap with
us. This is his first flight ever, and he just
graduated from school. So, everybody happy? And
let me just tell you, as a joke, you are his
guinea pigs. And now you take off. And now you're
flying. And now there's a little turbulence.
How would you feel? What would you be thinking?
I hope he knows what he's doing. I'm going to
crash. You're going to start feeling all anxious
because you think that this pilot is not good
enough. He doesn't have enough experience. But
now let's change the picture. Start the flight.
The flight attendant says, you have no idea how
privileged you are to be in this flight today
because the creator and designer of this airplane,
who is the person who helped us design this route,
is the pilot of this airplane. He has thousands
and thousands of flight hours and he has experienced
any potential scenario ever to exist in the flying
world. Please join me in welcoming our guest
pilot and everybody clapping now, right? Now
you're flying, there's a little bit of turbulence.
How do you feel? Ah, just turbulence. He knows
what he's doing. It's going to be okay. Fine.
Same plane, same turbulence, same passengers.
But what changed, Was the perception of the pilot.
If your perception of the pilot. Is that he's
not good enough. You're not going to experience
peace. You're going to have fear. And the same
thing will happen. In your life. There's a pilot.
In your airplane. And you better get to know
him. For who he truly is. Because if you don't.
Instead of peace. You will have fear. Instead
of grace. You will have shame. That's why it
is so important that the Apostle Paul writes
to the Colossians these words to make sure that
they understand who Jesus is because the teaching
that has been infiltrating the church has started
to distort the true identity of Jesus. So that's
why you can hear the tone of the Apostle Paul
in some of these sections because at the core,
What's happening is that all of these teachings
from the Judaizers as well as the pagans, they're
saying, yeah, Jesus is all good, but Jesus plus
obeying the law. Jesus plus circumcision. Jesus
plus doing this and that. Jesus plus worshiping
these idols. Jesus plus everything was Jesus
is not enough. You need Jesus plus these other
things. And Paul says, no. True Christianity
is Jesus period. Jesus is sufficient. It's enough.
Why? Well, let me tell you who Jesus is. And
as they understand who Jesus is, they will be
able to understand why Jesus period is the right
perspective. Now that you understand this, pay
attention. To the words that he says in chapter
1 as well as in chapter 2. In this selection
for you to get the idea of what he's doing. I
want you to know how much I have agonized for
you and for the church of Laodicea. And for many
other believers who have never met me personally.
By the way, this is how we know that he did not
plant those churches. See? And he continues,
I want them to be encouraged and knit together
by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete
confidence that they understand God's mysterious
plan, which is Christ himself. I want them to
understand Christ himself, this mystery, with
full confidence in him. Like hidden all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. You don't need another
source. And now, just as you accepted Christ
Jesus as your Lord. You must continue to follow
him. Let your roots grow down into him. And let
your lives be built on him. Let him be the foundation
of your life. then your faith will grow strong
in the truth you were taught and you will overflow
in thankfulness. You're going to have joy, peace.
The way you experience life is going to be with
this sense of confidence that is coming from
the understanding of that root who is Jesus.
And then he says, don't let... Anyone captures
you with empty philosophies and high -sounding
nonsense that comes from human thinking and from
the spiritual powers of this world rather than
from Christ. Watch out what YouTube videos you
are watching. Watch out what are the podcasts
you are listening to and what books you are reading.
Do not let false teaching That sounds all wise
and cool. But it's nonsense. Deceive you. And
this is why he's going to start telling them.
All of this information about who Jesus is. Because
he says look. If you want to experience life
as God intended. Where you're going to have his
peace. His grace. You're going to have good fruit.
Of your service to the Lord. Then you have to
pay attention to your roots. Your roots must
be firmly established in who truly Jesus is.
Because if your roots are shallow, rather than
being a strong tree that lasts through generations,
you are going to instead be a weak tree that
any strong wind comes out like that. What kind
of tree do you want to be? The one that grows
strong and mature and gives fruit? Or the one
that gets pushed and flop? Like that. Which kind
of tree do you want to be? I know the answer.
No one wants to be the tree that falls with the
wind. You want to be the strong tree. Fruitful.
Stable. But that is the outcome of your root.
And the root must be the true identity of who
Jesus is. I remember listening to the story of
Micah who grew up being taught that Jesus was
one of God's children because God, known as Elohim,
was a human like you and I that became advanced
and eventually he had many wives. And through
those many wives, in time past, he conceived
many children. And one of those children was
Jesus. And another of the children of God that
he conceived was Satan. So Jesus and Satan was
brothers. That's what this guy was being taught.
And before... The world was created when God,
the Father, with all his children, including
Satan and Jesus, were there planning to create
the world and how they were going to save it.
Satan wanted to be one of the saviors, but no,
they were not happy with it. Jesus says, okay,
I can be the savior. And then God was happy with
Jesus, but then Satan rebelled, and therefore
he was sent into the world like that. And eventually,
this Jesus became the savior of the world, but
it was Jesus plus, not Jesus period. So for Micah,
he thought, okay, I need to believe in Jesus,
but I also have to do all this work and all of
these things. Do you know what kind of doctrine
this is called? This is called the doctrine of
the Mormon church. The Mormon church believes
that Jesus was a created being. So Micah grew
up in that context, believing until one day as
he was reading the Bible, because the Mormon
church has the Bible and also the Book of Mormon
and another book in addition to that. But what
they were doing was, as he started reading the
Bible, he started seeing a picture of a different
Jesus. And salvation being by grace through faith.
And when he believed in Jesus for the first time,
And he gave his life to the Lord. He says, I
realized that I had spent all of my life trying
to earn that which Jesus had already paid for.
And that realization is what opened the door
for Micah to be able to experience the grace
and the peace of the true Jesus. Not the distorted
Jesus that he had come to believe. Do you understand
what difference it makes? So the Apostle Paul
is trying to encourage Christians and you and
me to make sure that we know who Jesus truly
is so that we will be not that tree that will
fall with the wind of deception, but that will
be the strong, stable one. And for that, we have
to understand something. That summarizes pretty
much the historical distortions of Jesus. What
I want to do in these next few minutes is to
give you just a big picture. And then we will
go back to Colossians to see what the Apostle
Paul masterfully wrote about the identity of
who Jesus truly is. And from there we will go
into the implications of that. But let me tell
you a little bit about this. Historical background.
One of the first distortions historically that
appeared about who Jesus was, was called Docetism.
And Docetism taught that Jesus was really not
human. Because they thought the body is bad,
the material world is bad, it's just... It's
imperfect, but the spiritual world is perfect.
So how could a spiritual being become a human?
No, that cannot be. So they thought that Jesus
only appeared to be human, but he wasn't really
a human like you and me. Eventually, there was
another distortion that started appearing that
was taught by Gnosticism. Gnosticism were a group
of people that would claim, and we still have
Gnostics today, by the way, that they received
special revelation from God by their spirit guides.
And the spirit guides tell them really what is
really true. Nobody else knows, but I do because
I received it. And Gnosticism taught that Jesus
was just an enlightened man. He was a man, the
man Jesus. Who at some point, probably during
his baptism, he became indwelled by this divine
being of the Messiah. And this divine being,
the Christ, came to live in Jesus at that moment.
And then you fast forward a few years and now
Jesus is on the cross. And at that moment on
the cross, this spirit of Christ leaves him.
And now the human Jesus dies. So really, the
Messiah didn't die because he is perfect. He's
a spirit. So Jesus was just an enlightened man
who didn't really die for our sins. Jesus died,
but Christ didn't. Wow, it gets weird, doesn't
it? And then, later, another teaching that started
infiltrating the church, was called Arianism.
Arian thought that Jesus was not God. He was
a human, but he was not God. He would say there
was a point in history in which Jesus was not.
And if there was a time in which Jesus was not,
it means that Jesus is not eternal, and if he
was created, then he's a creature. And therefore,
the different teachings about Jesus being created
come from this root of Aaronism. And we are talking
about the early church, 1st century, 2nd century,
all the way to 4th century. Just at the very
beginning of the church, all of these distortions
started happening already. You can see how some
of the distortions still remain today. As I said
for Micah, he was taught that Jesus was a created
being. There's another group that is very well
known in different countries. It's called the
Jehovah Witnesses. Jehovah Witnesses also teach
that Jesus was a created being. In fact, they
teach that Jesus was their archangel Michael,
who became incarnated and is Jesus. All of these
different teachings have invaded the church throughout
the centuries. And Christian leaders, especially
at the beginning of the church, they engaged
to talk about all of these things to be able
to ensure that they were thinking through these
things biblically because the word of God, the
Bible, is the source of truth. And as they engaged
throughout these first centuries in going through
these things, something emerged that was very
clear. Look at the book of Hebrews, for instance,
where it's discussing the humanity of Jesus.
Listen to what it says. Because God's children
are human beings made of flesh and blood, the
son also became flesh and blood. For only as
a human being could he die. And only by dying
could he break the power of the devil who had
the power of death. Only in this way could he
set free all who have lived their lives as slaves
to their fear of dying. We also know that this
son did not come to help angels. He came to help
the descendants of Abraham. Therefore, it was
necessary for him to be made in every respect
like us. his brothers and sisters, so that he
could be our merciful and faithful high priest
before God, then he could offer a sacrifice that
would take away the sins of the people. As you
see here, he concludes saying, since he himself
has gone through suffering and testing, he is
able to help us when we are being tested. Did
you pay attention to what the Bible says about
the humanity of Jesus? Is Jesus a human? Yes.
So the idea that Jesus was not really a human
doesn't fly. The Bible says no. He had to be
like us in every way except for sin. So that
he could then break the power of Satan that he
had over humanity. So he went from within. and
destroy that power. Very interesting. That's
why one of the first efforts to try to eliminate
this false teaching from infiltrating the church
came through lots of meetings and writings, and
one of the famous Christian leaders from that
first generation of Christians after the apostles,
Irenaeus, He summarized the core of this concept
by saying this, Jesus Christ became what we are,
humans, that he might make us what he himself
is. Like the Apostle John says, we will be like
he is. We will experience the glorification of
our bodies. We will experience resurrection.
All of these things because of what Jesus has
done. So you can see that at the very beginning,
the first Christian leaders really addressed
this distortion and said, no, no, no. Jesus is
human. He has to be. Otherwise, he could not
be the Savior. To be Savior, he has to be human.
But then, the other problem was, well, what if
Jesus is human, but he is not God? And that is
where the Scriptures also have spoken through
that, particularly, In the book of Isaiah. Isaiah
said this. There is no other God. This is God
talking. There is no other God. There never has
been. And there never will be. I. Yes. I am the
Lord. And there is no other. What? Savior. There
is no other Savior. But me. And there's only
one God. In the past and the future. That will
never change. And that's me. So wait. Therefore
if only God can save. It means that Jesus. Cannot
be just human. Because he's just human. He cannot
be savior. He also has to be God. Because only
God is savior. And you must remember. That when
Jesus. performs this miracle and says to the
paralytic man, your sins are forgiven, the Pharisees
listening to him say, who can, what does he think
he is? Only God can forgive sins. Precisely.
And that's why this teaching that Jesus was an
enlightened human or that the divine being of
Christ came into this human Jesus or that Jesus
was a created being rather than creator, could
not fly. And these distortions therefore become
completely addressed early in the history of
Christianity. And one of the famous writers during
this time that was able to summarize these arguments,
building on the previous centuries, was Athanasius.
And he summarized this by saying, if the world
were a creature, he could not have created us.
And if he is not God, he could not have remade
us. And that's how he summarizes the two sides
of who Jesus is. He is human like us because
only by being a human like us, he could destroy
the power of Satan. But only God can save. There's
no other Savior but God. Therefore, he has to
be God in order to save. And that is where you
have these things. That's why you have to be
very careful. Not everybody that says, oh, I'm
a Christian, is really a Christian. Because the
distortions of who Jesus is are plenty. And there
are many groups throughout church history that
have abandoned the truth of the scriptures. And
they have created their own versions of who Jesus
is. That's why the Apostle Paul will write this
foundation in the book of Colossians chapter
1. And this passage of Colossians chapter 1 is
one of the classic, most elaborate descriptions
of who Jesus is in addition. To John chapter
1. Let's see what the apostle Paul tells them.
First thing. He says Jesus is God. He doesn't
just appear to be God. He is. And he starts by
simply saying this. Christ is the visible image
of the invisible God. Because with the pagan
teaching. They were undermining the identity
of who Jesus was. With the spirit world, the
spirit worship, all of these things. And he says,
no, no. Jesus is a very visible image of the
invisible God. Do you remember when Jesus is
with the apostles and Philip says, Jesus, show
us the Father? And Jesus turns to him and says,
Philip, I've been with you all this time and
you asked me that question? Did you understand
that if you have seen me, you have seen the Father?
Paul says Jesus is the very image of God. And
then he says the second thing. Jesus is the creator.
And he's going to say it this way. He, meaning
Jesus, existed before anything was created. And
is supreme over all creation. any demonic spirit
that rebelled against God, even Satan, who is
one of the authorities, who created these spirits?
Oh, Paul says, Jesus created all of these things,
the things we can see, the ones that we cannot
see, including thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and
authorities in the unseen world. Jesus and Satan
are not brothers. Jesus created all these beings.
He existed before anything else. And he holds
all creation together. This is one of the things
that physicists can only see but they cannot
explain. What is the force, the atomic force
that keeps all the atoms and cells together?
Without that force, everything would disintegrate.
They know that. They just do not know what causes
this power to bring everything together and hold
it. And Paul says, Jesus existed before anything
else and he holds all creation together. It's
his power. And in that section, he basically
says, When you think of Jesus, you have to think
of Jesus as the designer of the airplane. He
designed it. He built it. He designed flying.
He is the mastermind. He is not just a pilot.
And when you understand that, something happens
in your life because now you are able to follow
Jesus with so much more confidence. He is not
just your Savior, but He is your Creator. He
holds you together. Now, there's something that
you must know. And this is because I'm trying
to equip you with understanding through the study
of Colossians. This passage that we just read,
verse 15, He exists before anything was created
and is supreme over all creation. That highlighted
word supreme is a specific Greek word. Let me
read it from here because I cannot see that far.
Prototokos. The word prototokos is the word that
is translated as firstborn. Firstborn. In the
Jewish culture, the first child, the first son
that was born had special privileges and rights
compared to the other children. And that's why
this word, prototokos, became a word that was
also the meaning of supremacy. You are supreme
over the others. But this is where Jehovah's
Witnesses say, oh no, no, he was the first person
to be born in all creation. That's why Jesus
is created. But what they don't understand, linguistically
and contextually, is that this word means supremacy.
And there's another word that exists in the Greek
language that specifically means the first created,
and that is protoktistos. Protoktistos is a specific
word that he could have used to say, oh, he was
the first created being, if that's what he meant.
And it's not that I'm trying to do gymnastics
here with the text. We do the same thing with
English. We use the word first, right? Who arrived
first? Meaning, who was the first person that
came? Chronology, right? First come, first served.
The first person that arrived. Chronology. First
place, second place. First, okay. Now we're talking
about supremacy. But wait. What do we call the
president's wife? The first lady. Was she the
first lady ever to exist? Was she the first created
woman in the history of the country? No, of course
not. It means a position of supremacy because
she is the wife of the president who has the
most power of all the citizens of this country.
So we use the word first as supremacy and Paul
is doing exactly the same thing because the use
of that word has that meaning as well. That's
why the reading that he is supreme over all creation
is the only reading and any translation that
says something different is doing gymnastics
with the text. And I wanted you to know that.
So that you understand these things. Perhaps
your translation says he is the firstborn over
all creation, and that's a legit translation.
But that means he's supreme over all creation.
And then the next thing that the Apostle Paul
says is that Jesus is Lord, not just creator,
and created everything that exists, and he existed
before anything was created, but he is Lord of
all. And he's going to say it like this. Christ
is also the head of the church, which is his
body. Who is the supreme authority over the church?
Christ. One of the funny things that people ask
me when they know that I'm a pastor. They say,
so how big is your church? All the time. That's
one of the typical questions that people ask.
How big is your church? And I think. It's not
my church. It's Jesus' church. And who cares
the size of the church? We are all sheep. So
one sheep or a thousand sheep are all equally
important. But the apostle Paul says, look, Jesus
is the Lord of the church. He is the beginning.
Supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he
is first in everything. He brought the resurrection
of the dead. That we will experience as the new
humanity. He is supreme. He is Lord over his
church. This new humanity. That he has enabled.
Because as the man God. Jesus. Who died on the
cross for our sins. He was able to break the
power of Satan. And then. The apostle Paul says,
Jesus is the true savior. For God in all his
fullness was pleased to live in Christ. And through
him, God reconciled everything to himself. Everything.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on
earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross.
Jesus really died. It was truly his flesh and
blood. And because he truly died for your sins.
He has reconciled you to God. And now you are
able to experience his grace 100%. And his peace
100%. Because he is the true savior. And this
is what Paul tells the Colossians. If you don't
understand who the pilot of your airplane is,
you will not experience grace and peace. But
once you understand that the pilot of your life
is God, He created you, He is Lord over everything,
and He is your absolute Savior, then you will
be able to start experiencing grace rather than
shame, and peace rather than fear. Because this
Jesus is the one that holds you. This is the
one that guides you. This is the one that's already
in your future. So you can live with complete
confidence rooted in Christ and become that solid
tree that has nothing to fear. This changes everything.
Because the center of my universe is not the
boyfriend or the children or the parents of my
career. It's Jesus. He is the one that I live
for. That's what the Apostle Paul said to the
Christians of the first century. Whether by living
or dying, our goal is to please Him. Is Jesus
the center of your universe? Or you don't realize
who Jesus truly is. Therefore, you have all the
things that are the center of your universe.
Everything changes when Jesus is who he truly
is. And he belongs in the right place of supremacy
in our lives. So let me conclude the study with
these three implications. And these implications
come also from Christians that have walked this
journey before us. And they are no longer here
walking on earth because they are already with
their Savior, Creator, Redeemer, Lord. The first
implication is that if Jesus is not your Savior,
then you need to seek Jesus. Perhaps you are
listening to this study today and you are a person
who is just wondering more about God. There's
a hunger you have and you are exploring and you
want to know, is this Jesus thing true? Is the
Bible true? What is this whole Christian thing
about? If you are in that journey, let me share
with you this quote from Blaise Pascal, who was
a French scientist. Who was able to put into
words that experience that you are in. He says
there is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of
each man. Which cannot be satisfied by any created
thing. But only by God the creator may known
through Jesus Christ. That emptiness, that lack
of peace. That lack of grace that you have in
your life is simply because there's a vacuum,
an emptiness there that only Jesus, your creator
and savior, can fill. And until you surrender
to him and you start following him, you will
continue to have that emptiness and it doesn't
matter what you try to fill it with, it will
never be filled. That is why Jesus came. So that
he can be your savior. And you can experience
his grace and his peace 100%. Seek Jesus. And
if today is the day for you to come to God and
say, Lord Jesus, would you save me? Now is the
day to do it. As we close in worship later today.
As we have time to pray for each other. If you
are seeking Jesus and you have not yet made that
commitment with him, today is the day. Secondly,
love Jesus. If you are following Jesus and you
think he is the center of your universe and you
are serving Jesus in different things, I want
to share this with you who is either a missionary,
a pastor, a person serving in some kind of ministry
capacity. It is very easy for people in this
context to confuse God's kingdom with their own.
And before you know it, that which you are building
has become your kingdom, your territory, your
ministry. And when people ask you, how big is
your church? You don't even think twice about
how wrong that question is. You immediately answer
it because you want people to know, yeah, this
is my church and I'm a successful pastor because
my church is big. If you're in that space, watch
out. Because one of the things that we learn
in following Jesus is that you can start doing
things for Jesus while you're no longer loving
him because you're loving just yourself. And
that It's going to bring anger. It's going to
bring stress. And you're going to become controlling
because this is your ministry, your position,
your church, your baby. That's why I love this
quote from Oswald Chambers, who was a Scottish
minister and teacher. He says, the greatest competitor
of devotion to Jesus is the service we do for
him. It's not your kingdom. It's his. It's not
your glory. It's his. It's not your power. It's
his. Love Jesus. And if it's time to let go of
the things that he had entrusted you. Then let
go. You are giving it back to where it belongs.
His hands. And it's going to be okay. But finally.
Rest in Jesus. If you are going through a time
of turbulence in your airplane, don't freak out.
Jesus is the pilot. And one of the things that
you will discover is that in the most difficult
circumstances, when your worst fears become true,
there's a person there with you that is bigger
and deeper than your fears. And his name is Jesus.
That's why I love this quote from Corey. Ten.
Boom. She survived the holocaust. And after suffering
so much. She wrote these words. You may never
know that Jesus is all you need. Until Jesus
is all you have. And I know that the time will
come. In which you will be in that bed. At the
hospital in your home. Away just. Very short
time from the Lord. Because the Lord will be
calling you home. And at that moment. It doesn't
matter how much money you had. How successful
you were in your life. The only thing that matters
is. Do you know Jesus? And if you know Jesus.
And Jesus is all you have. Then Jesus is all
you need. Because Paul just told us in Colossians.
It's not Jesus plus. It's Jesus. Period. So when
you are in that moment, remember that it's not
your good works, your efforts, your accomplishments.
It's Jesus. Creator. Jesus. Savior. Jesus. Lord.
Jesus. God. He is the one that has you. So you
will be okay. This. It's what the Apostle Paul
wrote in Colossians. And this is why this matters.
Do you know Jesus? Do you have a truthful picture
of who Jesus is? And is Jesus the center of your
universe? If he's not the center of your universe,
then who or what is? Is that bringing you peace
or stress? God wants you. To experience his grace
and his peace. And you will not experience it.
Until Jesus is the true center of your universe.
That's why if this picture. Captures more how
you are feeling. Then it's time. That you turn
to Jesus. Lord. If you do not become one like
us. And if you do not leave your throne. To become
one like us. We will not be standing here. In
your presence today. We will be lost. In our
sins. But you have invited us. To experience.
Your peace and your grace. And am I asking you
Lord. As we worship you. And declare this truth.
Will you encounter us in this space. So that
the shame. And the fear. That has hold us back.
The deception that has distorted who you are
will be broken once and for all in your presence.
In Jesus' name. If you are looking for community
or are in need of prayer, we welcome you to engage
by sending us an email to office at ecb .asia.
If God is calling you to support our ministries,
you will find giving options on our website.
And remember to join us next week. God bless
you.