Christ Above All | Pastor Will Hawk | January 18th, 2026

Start with the biggest claim you can make about a person: He is the image of the invisible God. We walk through Colossians 1:15–17 to meet Jesus not as an abstract idea but as the One who made all things, owns all things, and holds all things together—and then we ask what that means for a regular week at work and at home. If everything is by Him, through Him, and for Him, then purpose saturates both the cosmic and the ordinary.

We unpack what “firstborn over all creation” really means: not first created, but highest in rank, rightful heir, and head who sets the agenda. That lens turns stewardship into a way of life. Your time, gifts, relationships, and decisions belong to Christ; you manage them under His authority. We trace how this touches discipleship, mission, and everyday obedience, trading ownership for trust and hustle for faithfulness.

To right-size our worries, we zoom from ant farms to the Bubble Nebula and back to the heart: the same Christ who flung stars into their places is the Christ who never shrugs at your pain. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together—marriages on the mend, friendships in tension, bodies that ache, plans that change. We look honestly at our limits in authority, holiness, and power, and then locate our worth where it belongs: in the One who represents us and loves us with a permanent, nail-scarred resolve.

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Transcript

Setting The Stage In Colossians

SPEAKER_00 0:46

All right. So we are Colossians chapter one, verse 15. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him, for by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things. In him all things hold together. This is the word of the Lord.

Who Is Jesus And Why It Matters

Will Hawk 1:22

Thank you, Nora. Well, guys, welcome to the uh the first church plant meeting of 2026. I did not expect this big of a turnout. Our regular service today is at 11, and we did get all the information out that anyone involved or wanting to be involved in the church plant in the years to come should show up at nine o'clock. And so, guys, wow, I gotta be honest, I was expecting 15 to 20. This is encouraging for what it's worth. If you're the kind of person who shows up at 9 o'clock in the morning with snow outside, you might be the kind of person that plants a church. I'm just gonna leave that there. You'll hear more about that uh in February. Um, but I did want to take an option just to point that out to you. Okay, so let me set the stage for us. Uh, we are about to hop into Colossians chapter one. We're gonna look at three verses. I am fighting with a voice that has been cracking like I was 13 years old all week. Just giving you that heads up. That's gonna be a lot of fun. This is definitely gonna be a family service Sunday. Additionally, we have all the kiddos with us. And as soon as you start getting a little frustrated, a little irritated, or a little distracted, keep in mind every time Jesus taught, this is probably how it played out. Okay? So many of the folks you look up to in the Bible, or any Christian until about like, I don't know, 50 years ago, this was very normative. So I'm just planting the seed now. This is gonna be an opportunity for you to grow in discipline and diligence and understanding God's word. I will also tell you this. I wrote this for an adult audience. I am going to uh try to exercise my inner youth pastor and work on the fly so that some of the younger among us can enjoy God's word more. And if you're an adult and you enjoy this sermon more than most, that's for you to figure out. All right. So, what we've been looking at is Colossians. Let me go ahead and uh just say this is our question for January. For the month of January, we're gonna look at three as we work through the book of Colossians. Does the supremacy of Christ reshape what you call a good week at work and at home? Now, typically, when we've been looking at this question, these are the two lines that we've been asking the question about. Most of us read this and we're like, okay, what is a good week? What does that look like at work? What does it look like at home? This morning we're really gonna focus on this. What do you believe about Jesus? Who is he? Do you believe he is supreme? To what degree? Do you feel like you have in your mind, in your heart, in your emotions, in your affections capped out on knowing who Jesus is? Because that is what we are gonna be challenged with. Now, let me show you where we're coming from because this matters. What Nora just read was He is by Him, He is. Well, who is this pointing to? Well, it's pointing to what Paul is writing in verse 13 and 14. We were delivered from a domain of darkness, transferred into the kingdom of God's beloved Son, and in that Son we have redemption. In that Son we have the forgiveness of sins. He is. So you can't really appreciate this without realizing who is Paul, who is God's word talking about in these three verses? You see, now this is where I'm gonna need a little bit more give and take. By the way, I made your first question the most church-friendly question I possibly could have. Who is this verse talking about? All right, we're talking about Jesus. By the way, I hear you, Shane, every time you answer, old trucks look so good in the snow. Did you take pictures?

unknown 5:00

No.

Will Hawk 5:01

No, when I saw you pulling in, I laughed because the first pictures I took of the snow today were my truck in it. I like backed into the woods and tick, tick, tick, tick.

unknown 5:11

I was going to take a picture and it wouldn't work.

Poetry Structure: He Is… He Is

Image Of The Invisible God

Firstborn Explained: Rights And Rank

Authority, Inheritance, And Representation

Creation Through Him And For Him

Cosmic Scale: Bubble Nebula Perspective

Will Hawk 5:13

Yeah. Yeah, sorry about that. Sorry about that. So when we get to Colossians 1, we are gonna talk about Jesus. But let me show you what's happened. Depending on the Bible you have, if you look at it, you may notice in verse 15, all of a sudden the indentation changes. That may not happen in your Bible, but for some of you it will. Depends on what version you have. The reason is we have moved from Paul praying to Paul writing poetry. All right. This is Paul exercising his inner billy shakes. And what I want you to see is the parallelism. Let me use smaller words. I want you to see the sandwich that Paul's building. All right, kids? I want you to look up here at the sandwich. Verse 15. He is, verse 17, he is. This is the bread on the sandwich. Now, when the Bible does this, there's this sort of magnification and zeroing in that it wants to do. What God wants you to see this morning is who Jesus is. He really wants you to see who Jesus is. And then in between that, he wants you to know what Jesus has done. So that's the way that this sort of breaks out. Here is who Jesus is. Here is what he has done. But who Jesus is is so great that I can't just leave it. I gotta come back around to it. Do y'all see that? Do you see the structure? This is the poem that he is going to write. And when he begins, he says, guys, I just want you to know who Jesus is. He is the image of the invisible God. Jesus is the image of the invisible God. How do you know who God is? A few days ago I was driving down Macon Road, and this car uh passed me. I don't know if you can see it. I'll zoom in for you. I thought, oh Lord, this is just too perfect. And on their window was this God is dot dot dot. Now, I'll be warm for a minute and then I'll be a very critical pastor in the next, okay? Warm. Can we ever finish that sentence? Like, can we ever fill up all of the adjectives of who God is? God is great, He is majestic, He is powerful, He is in charge, He has all authority, He is loving, He is kind, He is merciful, He is great. Like we could go on and on and on, but I'll tell you what I don't like about this. What I don't like about this is it's leaving it up to us to define. And one of the things Colossians wants to make very clear is we do not get to define who God is. God gets to define who He is, and He has done it for us, and He has done it for us very well simply by showing us who Jesus is. Do you want to see who God is? Read the Gospel of Matthew. Do you want to know how God acts? Mark? Do you want to know how God feels? John. Do you want to know how God thinks? Luke. Do you want to know who God is? You're holding it in your hands. It's in the pew in front of you. The creator of the universe invites you to say, Do you really want to know who I am? Do you want to know what I'm like? Turn the page and see. How do we know who God is? Jesus is the image of the invisible God. And God does not invite our definitions. He reveals himself through Jesus. Now, one important scriptural uh qualification. I want you guys to track me on this. You are incredibly special. The kids who are making noise right now in this moment, incredibly special. Those of you who are 60, 70 years old, incredibly special. Those of you who are finding out new things about yourself, finding out new things about your spouse. Those of you who are struggling to find something new, because you've been on yourself for quite a while. All you know is what's the next new thing that hurts or doesn't work exactly right. You are incredible in all creation. When you look out the window at the wonders that happened, I want you to understand this. You are on top of it all. You are the pinnacle of God's creation because you are created in the image of God. Jesus, however, is a billion steps above. So many steps you can't even really call them steps. It's a completely different reality. We are in the image of God. Jesus is the image of God. If you see him, you see the creator, if you see him, you see the one who brought all things into being. You are unique in creation. But Jesus is unique over it. And the first few things that Paul writes about him, when he said, Do you want to know who God is? Do you want to see? Let me show you who Jesus is. Jesus is the firstborn of all creation. Now, creation, let me tell you something that my son Ames has been doing. For whatever reason, where you at? Hey, buddy. He had you've gotten into a certain bug, and that bug is ants. The kid's into ants right now. It's a rough night for ants, okay? Last night was a rough night for ants. And what that means is he went down to the basement, found an old aquarium, pulled it out, filled it with a bunch of dirt, caught a bunch of ants, put it in there so that he can watch them tunnel and grow. In fact, if he finishes a couple of extra chores, there's an ant farm waiting for him, but he has to finish a couple of chores to get it. You are similar in this sense. God created the most elaborate aquarium. The lighting is just the way it's supposed to be. The temperature, exactly right. He brings food into the system, he takes things out of the system. When you look at an incredible aquarium, whether you got an ant in it or whether you got a fish in it, the whole point is for you to focus on the creature that is on the inside. When I was in high school, I used to take care of the saltwater aquarium. It was something that a couple of the kids in Science Olympiad or academic decathlon, I can't remember which one it was. We were in charge of the saltwater aquarium. So we got to leave class to clean an aquarium, which we thought was awesome because we got out of class. And now I just realized the janitor probably didn't want to deal with it. And they were like, let the nerdy kids go in there and have their fun. But the fish were incredible. It wasn't like a goldfish or a beta. These things were elaborate. The coral inside it was alive, the lighting, the UV, the pH, all intently built to display this incredible fish that is you in this world. God has today whitewashed it for us in the South to see a piece of his glory that we don't often get to see. And he would look at all of this and he would still lift you higher because you are created in his image. But the impressive thing is not you. The impressive thing is not even the aquarium. The impressive thing is the one who designed it, the one who loves you while you're in it. And Jesus is the firstborn of all creation. Now, some struggle with this passage, thinking that firstborn means that he is created. He's not just the way that we see who God is, there's something more going on there. When he is the firstborn of all creation, what the scripture is trying to tell you is that Jesus is special on top of special. If you look this word firstborn up in the Old Testament, it's the word bakor. And what it's actually pointing to is the fact that the firstborn carried rites. Now, we've gotten away from some of this, but let me just invite you into it. I have three sons and I have one daughter. Prior to me, my father had a brother. That brother only had daughters. My father only had one son, me, and two daughters, which means who's responsible to carry on the family name? Me. What it also means is as the firstborn, I have certain rights. At least in the Old Testament, I would have. I would have inherited more. Mom, pay attention. I would have gotten more things because I was the firstborn and the firstborn son. There were rights, there were privileges, there were responsibilities. This passage is not saying Jesus was created, he was just created first. We know that from the context of all of Scripture. So what is Paul actually saying? Special, abundantly special. Do you want to know who Jesus is? You need to wrap your mind around what it means to be the firstborn. Now I'm going to prove to you, it doesn't mean that Jesus was created first. This is Psalm 89. I have found David. All right, I'm about to ask you a question. I would like some responses. If you didn't grow up in the church and you don't know the answer, that's okay. Place to learn, not to prove you know everything. Who was the first king of Israel? Three, two, one. All right. Tell me one physical characteristic about Saul. Bro is tall, head taller than every other guy. All right. If you don't remember anything else this morning, you learned that Saul was tall. You're welcome. All right. But I want you to notice this. I found David my servant. With my holy oil, I've anointed him so that my hand will be established with him. My arm also shall strengthen him. I will make him the what? Firstborn. Was David the firstborn person in Israel? Absolutely not. Was he the firstborn king? Absolutely not. Look at the last line. What is the Bible using the term Bakor or firstborn to mean? The highest of the kings of earth. David was going to be a king, and of the kings he was going to be a highest. So when it says Jesus is the firstborn of creation, it means he is higher than everything else in all of creation. Well, what does that mean? It means that Jesus has certain rights that you need to be aware of. Jesus is the firstborn of all creation with the right of inheritance. In these last days, Hebrews tells us, He, being God, has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of. You're gonna get real tired of seeing that word. All things. What does Jesus own? What is He in charge of? What is He responsible for? All things through whom He created the world. Which means He could not be created. However, He owns everything. That's what Paul wants you to realize. Abraham Kuyper, a Dutch theologian, would put it this way: there's not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, mine. Clothes you wear are his. The place that you sit is his. The car you drive, it's his. The bed you slept in, it's his. Everything you have ever seen or touched, his, his, his. Which is why, Christian, if you've never noticed this, in scripture you're called a steward. You are someone responsible for something that you do not have ownership over. Think about that as it applies to your children. Think about that as it applies to your possessions. Think about that as it applies to your time, and think about that as it applies to your decisions. We are stewards because Christ inherits it all. Secondly, as the firstborn of creation, Christ has the right of authority. We see this in Genesis 49. Reuben, who was a firstborn, was given might, strength, preeminence in dignity, preeminence in power. If you really want to bring this up to sort of what it hits us with today, I would take you to one of the most well-known verses in all of Scripture. And Jesus came and said to them, All authority, every single bit of it in heaven and on earth has been given to me. And then he turns and he says, I want you to go and I want you to do something with it. The firstborn functioned as the household under the Father. Christ is the head of the church. We'll talk about what that means more next week. But what it means is this ears up, eyes open. Jesus has the authority to set the agenda. Jesus has the authority to hold accountable. Jesus has the authority to make the call. And he gets to do that in the church, and he gets to do that in your family, and he gets to do it in your own life. And what does it look like when Christ sets the agenda, holds accountable, and makes the call? That's what it looks like. It looks like a bunch of people going. It looks like a bunch of people making disciples. It looks like people going into all nations. It looks like people baptizing and being baptized. It looks like people falling in love with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and being led by Him. We talked last week about the will of God, general and specific. Might I invite you into one of the greatest wills that God has for your life? I'd be willing to bet there's not a soul in this room that can't look at that sentence and find a step to take in their walk with the Lord. Additionally, not only does he have authority, he has representation. Exodus chapter 4. Israel is my firstborn son. Israel wasn't the first nation created. They weren't even close to the first nation created. But God looks at him and he says, I'm choosing for you to be my core, my firstborn. I want you to represent me. This was the job of Israel from the beginning. That when they lived, they would live a life of holiness. When they sinned, they would repent and put on display what happens when broken people sin. They repent, they come back to God, they go to the one who is lifted up in the wilderness. The firstborn stood for the family. Have you ever wondered? Kids in the room. In Exodus, Pharaoh does not obey. So God sends ten what? Plagues. Okay, that was for the children. All right. For somebody twelve or under, what is the last plague? What is the last plague? Twelve and under. What? Yeah, did we get it right? The firstborn. Perfect. Nailed it and paying attention. Have you ever wondered why it was the death of the firstborn son? Because they're representing that family. The family that chose not to go under the Passover blood of Christ. It is displaying them as a representation. That is why the plague came to the firstborn son, because they are representative. Israel wasn't chronologically first, but they were supposed to represent God. So the firstborn doesn't just receive, they represent. Which means when you stand before God, do you want to stand on your own, or would you like someone to represent you? This is what Jesus does as the firstborn. Finally, one more thing, firstborn that I would want you to see is this. The firstborn has the right of permanence. Hebrews 7. Think about the priesthood in the Old Testament. The former priests were many in number. Why did they have so many? Because they were prevented by death from continuing in office. They had lots of priests because they kept dying. Seemed like every 50, 60, 70 years they would die. So they needed more and they needed more. But Jesus, he holds his priesthood permanently. Why? Because he can't die. That's why. He's already died. He already beat death. Death doesn't have a shot on him. So when he sits on his throne, he doesn't need a backup. He doesn't need someone to inherit his place. He doesn't need someone to step him and step in and give him a break. Christ is permanent. In Christ we see the firstborn. Everything else is second. That is who he is. Now we drop down into what is it that Christ has done. In other words, because of Jesus, what do we see? Well, by him all things were created. Doesn't matter where you look. You can look at heaven, you can look at earth. Things that you can see and things that you can't see, spiritual realms, things that you can't see, like feelings and thoughts and emotions. It doesn't matter whether it's a throne, a dominion, a ruler, an authority, a president, a monarch, a prime minister, anything. By him all things were created. And all things were created through him and for him. I uh I thought it would be fun. Oh no, my picture didn't work. Man, I even like did this for the kids. Hang on, give me a minute. Here, I'll give you a question. There you go. Come up with an answer for that for a minute. Got it. Okay, perfect. Alright. Kids and adults will like check this out because it's really, really cool. Oh, by the way, what's the answer? Okay. Is anybody bonus points to the camp store if you can tell me what you're looking at right now? Nope. I tried to pick something that most of you would not have seen from the Hubble Space Telescope, because I know the same like three pictures are shown in all science classes. So I tried to pick something you've never seen before. I'll give you one more guess. By the way, it's named for what it looks like. What does it look like? Pretend you're four years old. What do you see? It starts with a B and ends with an obvious. It's a bubble. Okay, so this is the bubble nebula. All right? Picture taken by the Hubble Space Telescope a number of years ago. When we talk about Christ being over all things, all things in heaven and beyond. I want you to realize that if you wanted to travel from the left side of this bubble to the right side, you would have to travel seven to ten light years, which I know doesn't matter to you. So let me just tell you, it would be six trillion miles for you to travel from one side to the other. This, oh no, no, no, no, no. I'm sorry. That's how far away it is. If you want to go from one side to the other, it's gonna be 40 to 60 trillion miles. Once we get into the trillions, it doesn't matter if I say 600, six or six thousand, you're just like, whatever, I can't do anything with that. What I'll to put it in perspective, I will tell you this. Everything that you really studied in science class, those styrofoam balls that you pulled out, and you've got the sun, and then you worked really hard on Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, and then from there they just kind of, huh, Saturn probably had a ring on it. Thousands of those will fit from one side to the other. Your neighborhood disappears in this bubble, which by the way, was created because a star produced wind. That's it. One star created wind as it was going through the cosmos, and this comes out. I don't know how long it's going to be before Christ returns, but I will tell you this. The more that we realize on the small scale and on the grand scale, the more delight and the more glory we ought to give God. Everything you can ever imagine would like this thing would hold it to the billionth degree. This is who Christ is. How do I put this in perspective? When you are stressed out about how much it's going to cost to fix your car, this is what Jesus is dealing with. Okay? And he's never sweated once. In fact, the only time I've ever seen or read of Jesus sweating is when his knees are on the ground trying to figure out how he's gonna cover your sin. That's the only time I've ever seen Jesus sweat. And then he got back up and he dealt with it. Every big piece of your life, I'm telling you, you can handle it. Every small piece of your life, he is never going to miss it. This is who Christ is, and this is what he does. By him, everything was created. All things they were created by him, through him, and that's important for him, which means everything has a purpose. Everything has a purpose. The flat tire you didn't have time for has a purpose. The conversation that you got interrupted and got sucked into, it has a purpose. That part of your body that hurts and doesn't work right, it has a purpose. The thing in your life that you're excited about, and the thing in your life that you despise, it has a purpose. And I think that's one of the main purposes of Paul's poem. That you would marvel and look at great things, but that you would also look at yourself and feel incredibly small in scope. And if I could just be a little rough with us, I think for a moment you need to feel very, very little. You need to feel very, very insignificant, but only because I want you to feel one other thing. Consider this. If this world is an aquarium, a cosmic-sized aquarium, and God is putting on display you as the apex of his creation, here's my question. Is this world good enough for you? Yeah, I would say it is. I would say this world is far better than you deserve. It's way better than you could create. None of you have ever created anything. Not really. Whatever you created, you had to take material from something else that you didn't create just so that you could do that thing. So for us to have a world that's handed to us that's functional and beautiful and delightful and just look out the window, for God to just hand that to a creature is unbelievable. But please hear me on this. For Jesus, this world isn't nearly good enough. It's not even close. One sin, one brokenness, one imperfection makes this world wholly insufficient for his greatness, which means God should just start over, read about the flood. God should just kick us out, check out the garden. Why doesn't God leave us out? Why? Why does he not look and say, everything I've made in all creation does everything I've created it to do, except this one thing, this one little thing that I made the apex of my creation? And by the way, this happens all the time. I don't understand how beta fish ever made it this far in all of humanity. They keep jumping out. They keep jumping out and landing and just being like, and then they die. It's like, why do you keep jumping out of the aquarium? Are you not smart enough to stay in the very thing? No, of course. We look at anything that is something we don't have and we're like, gotta check that out. And then we flop around and wonder why it's why we can't breathe, why it crushes us, why it kills us. Why does God not leave us out? Human logic won't be able to answer that. Honestly, if you were in God's shoes, imagine what you would do. I want you to imagine for a moment that you put all of your time and energy and effort into this thing, and then over and over and over again it just despises you and turns its back on you. Can I tell you what you would do? You would turn your back on it. And the reason I know that is because we all do it. And I pray with you, and I sit with you and I talk with you. Except we'll do it after one offense or maybe two, but not God. You see, we aren't terribly impressive, but Christ is. And this is how the poem ends. Yeah, he is all of these things, and by him all of this happens. And Paul just can't stop by saying, Can I tell you one more thing that he is, he's before all things, and in him all things hold together. Honestly, you and I are not that impressive. If I lined up, I'm gonna ask you four questions as I get ready to close. And here's my question: Where would you be in a line of a million people? That's my question. We got how many people are on the planet now? Six billion, six and a half billion. I'm gonna make it easier, math. I'm just gonna say, I'm only gonna compare you to a million people. I want to know how you would turn out. Because Jesus is before all things in authority. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. If I lined you up with a million people, how many would you be in front of when it comes to authority? How good are you at making the call? Are you the right person to analyze the situation? Out of a million people, honestly, I want you to drop yourself somewhere. Where would you be when it comes to your authority? Your ability to lead, to bring things to pass, to know the right direction to go, and to actually go in it. Where in a million would you be? Because Christ is before all of them when it comes to authority. Where would you be when it comes to your holiness? If I take a million people and I line them up, where would you be when it comes to your holiness and purity? And tell me you didn't just think where you would be compared to the middle. That's how that's how we work. Your first thought was probably, well, I'm gonna be on the left side of whatever 50% is. Is that is that really the goal? Is the goal just to be one margin better than everyone else? He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. In case I'm losing you, let me remind you, I need you to feel very small in this moment for what I'm about to say. I need you to feel insignificant. You're not, you're not small and you're not insignificant. You are created by God in his image, but I need you to feel this for a moment. How are you in holiness compared to a million people? Every thought that you have, word that you say, deed that you do. What about in power? You see, Christ is in front of everyone in power, he upholds the universe by the word of his power. How powerful are you? And in front of a million people. Some of you guys have a chest on you, and I know that, and you're putting yourself in the top 10%. I can handle that. But power is not just a bench press. What can you actually cause to happen? When I wrote this, I think I finished up the sermon on Thursday. I wrote in, can you make it rain? And then I was like, better yet, can you make it snow? Like, how many of you are absolutely blown away? Whenever my wife pulled out the app, she said, It's gonna snow tomorrow, because she's like the real excited, optimistic weather one. Every other guy in the house was like, Mom, that's the image for sleet. We just need you to know it's gonna be wet and sticky. And then she woke up in the morning and was like, mm-hmm. But do you know what Karen Ann actually did to make it snow? Zero. Nothing. She can't uh she may have prayed. I'd be willing to bet, Karen Ann, did you pray for snow? Yes. Okay. What can you actually bring about? Your best shot is to take an aquarium, put some hot water on one side, ice on the other, and try to make some mist. And even then, you had to go find the ice, you had to buy the aquarium, you had to get the hot water. What can you actually bring to pass? Christ upholds the universe by the word of his power. Finally, he is before all things in worth. How do you derive your value? In front of a million people, how valuable are you? Stokes, you can go ahead and come up or send up whoever. Where are you in front of a million people? And how do you even figure that out? Because Jesus, to him be glory, honor, and majesty forever. Amen. End of conversation. Where do you derive your value? Now, a few moments ago, I asked a question, and my question was this why didn't God just leave us out? Why didn't He not look at the aquarium and realize they keep cracking the tank, jumping out, dying on the side, they keep making a mess of it. Every time I make it pretty, they just make it messy. Why does he not just kick us out? If this world was made for us, it'd be good enough. It'd be great, far better than you could ever create. Functional, beautiful, delightful, satisfying. But for Jesus, this world is not enough. And he should start over. He should send another flood, except he promised he wouldn't do it. He should kick us out of a garden, except he's working really hard to get us into the next one. Why doesn't he kick us out? The reason I asked this question, and the reason I wanted you to feel small, the reason I wanted you to feel insignificant was because of this. This is my favorite part of the whole thing. Yes, he is before all things, but Jesus, he is the one who holds things together. If God abandons us, we have zero hope. Z-E-R-O, zero hope. If God takes his hand off, if he steps away, if he turns his back on the aquarium that we keep making a mess of, you have zero chance. You are a fish out of the bowl on the table, gasping for air without a hope in sight. If God turns his back for one moment and everything comes unraveled. He gave you authority over portions of his world. How do you use it? He gave you authority over portions of his world. How do you use it? The things that you have authority over that you get to speak into, it doesn't matter if you're old or if you're young. How do you use that authority that he has given you? He's called you to holiness. What are your thoughts and actions looking like? Nothing in all creation was given this choice. You could say, well, well, the angels were given the choice. Sort of. The angels were given the choice once. And if they rebelled, God was like, out of the aquarium, you're done. And then the angels spend the rest of eternity looking at this weird creature. And God gives them a chance in the garden and they ruin it. And God's like, Let me give you a second chance. I want to try to hold this thing together. Let me give you a third chance. Let me give you a fourth chance. And the angels look at this and they have to say, What is going on? God just keeps giving this creature, made in his own image, chance after chance after chance. He's given you power in some capacity. How are you using it? And he has given you incredible worth. But for you to appreciate it, you first need to see how small and insignificant you are. Why do you keep holding things together? Well, when my sons fight with each other, I try to hold them together because I love them. And I can see a world where they get along and they support each other. So I take these broken things and I try to hold them together, even though it's harder because it is worth it. Why do you try to hold a broken marriage together? It'd be easier not to, it'd be easier to quit. Why hold a broken marriage together? Because you look at it and you say, I love this thing. I love what this thing might be. I love what this thing could be. Why do you take broken things and try to super glue them back together? We got this cow at an antique place like 20 years ago, and it gets broken every few years. Now it's just a head. That's all that's left, right? First the legs broke off and I put it, and then a kid threw a football and it broke in half, so I glued it back together, but it wouldn't stick. My wife didn't want to get rid of it, so I put it on a piece of wood and turned it into a piece of art, and eventually it's just gonna be an ear. Why do we keep putting this thing back together? Because we love it, it has intrinsic value. It reminds us of something in our relationship. You still love that broken thing, and so does God when he sees you, even in front of a million others. So, what does it mean for Christ to hold all things together, even broken things? It means that God is someone who loves it very much. And to be honest with you, I want you to feel small in scope and I needed you to feel small in value so that you could see how great his love is. Because if we don't understand our brokenness, if we don't understand how small we are, we're going to begin defining who God is on our own. But I'll tell you what we could have done. I could have saved you all 30 minutes, and I could have just read you this. Anyone who does not love does not know God. Because God is love. Not God has love, not God shows it. This is who he is. This is what it looks like to be somebody who loves broken things and holds them together. In this, the love of God was made manifest among us. That means this is how you see the love of God. He sent his only son into the world so that we, broken people, flopping around on the table, hoping we have one more breath, might get to live again through him. My hope this morning was this that we would know and believe the love that God has for us. But the only way to get you there was for you to realize who you are in all creation, see what you have done in the midst of it, and then watch that God just keeps holding it together. I don't know why God's given you a second chance. I don't know why he's given you a 200th chance. But I can tell you this it begins with and it ends with God is love. And he doesn't want you to miss that. So, what does it mean for you to know and believe that God is love? Because when you answer that question, you will very easily be able to answer this one as well. Not what is a good week, not what is it at work or at home, but do I see Christ as supreme and loving me as he holds it all together? We respond in a couple of different ways every Sunday in a minute. In fact, if you guys want to, uh, band is gonna go ahead and come up. Y'all can stand as we get ready to sing. And as you do, a group of us are going to be those brave among you and want to uh deal with the cold and weather. There's gonna be a group of us praying on the back porch. We would love to pray with you and pray for you. But let's sing and let's think and let's pursue the Lord together.