WORD ALIVE 2006 - Skegness. Evening 2 - Vaughn Roberts
Colossians 1:15-29Make sure you understand who Jesus is!
People say "you need more than Jesus". We start to listen to that and we find that other things become more important than Jesus in our lives.
To counter that - look at Jesus. HOW could there be anything more?!
1. Christ is the all-surpassing God (verses 15-17).
Jesus has more websites devoted to Him than Beckham and Madonna put together! He's unique. He's influenced history more than anyone else.
People often say of their lives, "There must be something more..." - The Bible says yes there is! The Bible says look no further than Jesus for the answer.
If you try to draw a picture of someone you've never met then you'll have a go, but it will be your own image of the reality. If the person is stood in front of you then you don't need to keep trying to draw the picture - the image is there.
Other religions - people drawing sketches of what God might be like.
But in Christianity we have God coming to us and saying "this is what I'm like".
Jehovah's Witnesses use this verse (15) and the word 'firstborn' to say that Jesus can't be eternal - if He was born then He had a beginning. But they ignore the context. And the rest of the New Testament!
"firstborn" - first in rank/honour, or ruler/leader.
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If Jesus made all these things then it stands to reason He has authority over all these things.
"Peace, be still" - WHO IS THIS?!
"Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing? Well if we know the answer to that, we know the mind of God." - Stephen Hawking, 'A Brief History of Time'.
Answer? - VERSE 16! (To start with!)
Without Christ we would cease to be.
Nothing and nobody can be placed on a par with Jesus.
"Jesus is not 'The Great', He is 'The Only'...our place is on our faces before Him in worship."
Jehovah's Witnesses use this verse (15) and the word 'firstborn' to say that Jesus can't be eternal - if He was born then He had a beginning. But they ignore the context. And the rest of the New Testament!
"firstborn" - first in rank/honour, or ruler/leader.
--------
If Jesus made all these things then it stands to reason He has authority over all these things.
"Peace, be still" - WHO IS THIS?!
"Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing? Well if we know the answer to that, we know the mind of God." - Stephen Hawking, 'A Brief History of Time'.
Answer? - VERSE 16! (To start with!)
Without Christ we would cease to be.
Nothing and nobody can be placed on a par with Jesus.
"Jesus is not 'The Great', He is 'The Only'...our place is on our faces before Him in worship."
- John Stott.
2. Christ achieves an all-encompassing salvation.
Verse 18 - He is the head of the body, the church (not, for example, the Pope)
There's no better one to fix something than the one who made it.
2. Christ achieves an all-encompassing salvation.
Verse 18 - He is the head of the body, the church (not, for example, the Pope)
There's no better one to fix something than the one who made it.
God, through Jesus, created the world and God, through Jesus, fixes us.
The death of Jesus is the turning point of history. Jesus died not just to pay for my sin but to put all of creation back in order. The universe depends on the cross.
Verse 23 - 'If'. CONTINUE TRUSTING IN GOD. The true believer keeps believing...
Verses 28-29.
The death of Jesus is the turning point of history. Jesus died not just to pay for my sin but to put all of creation back in order. The universe depends on the cross.
Verse 23 - 'If'. CONTINUE TRUSTING IN GOD. The true believer keeps believing...
Verses 28-29.
(I drummed verse 28 into my head when I was on the CU exec coz it's on our constitution. Whilst listening to this talk I thought about that. It's not just for the CU as a whole, it's for ME personally. And not just for when I'm in a position like exec where I need to be encouraging and leading people in this. It forms part of MY mandate for my WHOLE life. At least it should...)
Persevere. Remember who Jesus is. There CANNOT be anything beyond Him.
Persevere. Remember who Jesus is. There CANNOT be anything beyond Him.
posted by Welshie @ 12:17 pm
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