WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.720 This podcast is the Ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church. 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:05.759 For more information in our church, please visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:07.519 Uh let me introduce myself. 00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:10.640 Um I I I did earlier during the Shapin Word, but I'm I want to do it again. 00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:14.800 My name is Aaron Cotton, and uh I I am the student pastor here uh at Grand Parkway. 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:17.039 It's my privilege to be here uh in front of you. 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:22.480 Uh back in 2008, uh I was asked to come on for a summer uh and I'm still here uh five five years later. 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:24.879 I told the way I was like, hey man, uh I'm not going anywhere. 00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:26.000 Uh I love this church. 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:29.839 Uh I love I love uh the people here uh and and I love the students. 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:34.560 Uh so so I'm I am uh I'm I'm I'm here for the for the long for the long haul, whether you like it or not. 00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:37.039 Uh I'm I'm I'm gonna be I'm gonna be here. 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:42.640 Um so with that, we're gonna be in Colossians uh one this morning, uh, and we're we're gonna unpack uh a few things. 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:44.159 We've been going through the book of Romans. 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:48.479 We've been going through all the way, we've made it all the way to Romans 8, and then we kind of uh we kind of stopped. 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:56.640 Uh we took a total of four uh four weeks alone in in the book uh or in the chapter uh of chapter eight of Romans. 00:00:56.799 --> 00:00:58.640 Uh we we we take one verse at a time here. 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:10.239 We like to walk through the Bible, we like uh to take uh it's slow, just one one verse at a time, and we're gonna do the same thing this morning because I think there's this tendency within us uh we when we approach the word of God to kind of just jump in and just just to go. 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:16.239 Uh just to just to go and kind of gloss and uh but we're we're not we're not gonna do that this uh this morning. 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:18.159 I I like to draw the analogy. 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:21.040 Uh like reading reading the reading the Bible is like mowing the grass. 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:22.799 And that's not a duck dynasty joke. 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:24.400 Uh that's just my philosophy. 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:26.239 Like reading the Bible is like mowing the grass. 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:28.719 You think, Aaron, what do you what are you uh talking about? 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:32.640 Uh the question asks me is man, what is the greatest Christmas present you ever got? 00:01:32.719 --> 00:01:33.200 I I don't know. 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:35.920 Like there's I I was I was spoiled rotten as a kid. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:41.280 Uh I I don't know if I can name one specific gift that I got that was just downright amazing. 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:46.879 Uh but i i if I could speak of one gift that I got uh that my dad gave me was a riding lawnmower. 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:52.560 Uh we have a place out here in Waller, uh five acres worth, and before we had a Ryan lawnmower, we had it we actually had a push mower. 00:01:52.640 --> 00:01:53.920 Uh it wasn't self-propelled. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:56.959 Uh it's something that you actually had to push a lot of energy. 00:01:57.040 --> 00:01:58.079 You got your workout in. 00:01:58.159 --> 00:02:01.599 Uh so when I got a riding lawn mower, I got my own set of wheels. 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:03.040 I could go as fast as I want. 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:08.240 I used to take that thing uh at my own Ryan lawn, put it in fifth years before, the automatic ones that you get nowadays. 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:11.120 It's actually when you actually put it in gear, had your foot on the brake. 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:12.560 I could pop wheelies on this thing. 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:14.240 Uh it was it I I was such a talent. 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:19.599 I'll put that thing on the way to the rabbit, let that thing go, and I could be I can knock out a pasture in no time. 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:22.879 My brother had one, I had one, we'd be racing, we'd be going. 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:28.560 If you know anything about mowing grass, if you go too fast, since the grass is so rich and thick, it you the good the blades can't keep up. 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:36.560 And and there's this there's this moment when you're going, you if you go too fast, there's this little blade of thin grass that to show that hey, you need it, you're going too fast and you slow down. 00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:37.759 But I I didn't know that as a kid. 00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:40.000 All I know all I know is I got a meal mower. 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:41.520 I could take my own set of wheels. 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:45.759 I can go to the grocery for the Moonaville uh store, uh, show up there, get what I want. 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:47.120 Uh I got my own set of wheels. 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:49.520 I'm gonna go as fast as I as I want to. 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:52.879 And my dad uh many, many times did this motion right here. 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:57.039 Hey, slow, slow down, slow down, you're going, you're going way, you're going way too fast. 00:02:57.120 --> 00:02:59.759 And this morning, I see my dad speaking to hey, slow down. 00:02:59.919 --> 00:03:01.039 We're gonna slow down this morning. 00:03:01.120 --> 00:03:05.680 And we're gonna we're gonna be in Colossians 1, and we're just gonna take one uh verse at a time. 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:08.319 The Bible says this, Colossians 1. 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:11.439 We're gonna start in verse 9 for the sake of context. 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:12.719 Bible says this. 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:17.360 It says, and so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you. 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:20.960 If anything or any question about what to pray, pray this. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:43.520 Be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work, and that may you be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:54.879 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom, in Jesus, we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 00:03:55.039 --> 00:03:56.240 Verse 15, huge verse. 00:03:56.400 --> 00:03:57.360 He is the image. 00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:10.400 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible, invisible, whether thrones, dominions, or rulers, or authorities. 00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:11.680 Paul, I think we get the point. 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:17.680 Everything ever created, all things were created through him, and they exist, they exist for him. 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:21.279 And he is the head of the body, the church. 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:28.480 He is the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, that in everything, in everything he might be, he might be preeminent. 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:43.199 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace by the blood, by the blood of his cross. 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:57.199 What a full full morning uh it is if you read through the text, at least eight times alone in eight verses, we see in him, in him, he is, he is, like Paul, we get the point. 00:04:57.839 --> 00:05:01.360 We are confronted with the bigness of who Jesus is. 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:07.839 Uh that that that what we see in our in our the first point that uh we will see Paul making is that Jesus is savior. 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:09.279 Jesus is savior. 00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:10.639 Rome was ruling during this time. 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:14.959 Rome was one of the largest uh ruling empires the world has ever seen. 00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:18.160 One of the biggest empires uh ever seen. 00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:21.040 And one of the biggest impacts that Rome did was the Roman roads. 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:27.519 Uh that they they created roads not only for uh the people who had money, but people uh who are on the outset that didn't have much. 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:34.800 It created this diverse cultural melting pot where people could access places where they weren't able to uh before. 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:44.079 And what began to happen in Rome, there began to do this influx of culture, a variety uh uh uh of different beliefs and systems, and Rome was totally cool with it. 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:45.759 Rome was like, hey, believe whatever you want. 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:48.399 You want to worship that God over there, you go worship that God. 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:57.040 If you want to worship uh what what the druids or the pagan, like you go do that, as long as you add Caesar to the list, hey, we're okay. 00:05:57.279 --> 00:06:06.160 And it worked out well because what Rome did is they they instilled uh uh the religious tolerance for the people, and this is where the Colossian church is at. 00:06:06.639 --> 00:06:17.600 They're sitting and they're seeing their neighbors, they're seeing people borrow things, they're seeing, hey, I like this about that culture, I like I like this about about that, and there's this new this new culture emerging within Rome. 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:20.720 To give you an example, uh I'm a big fan of Los Cucos. 00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:23.920 All right, we I live out in Cady and Los Cucos reigns out in Cat. 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:30.720 I know we're Lupe Tortilla people uh here in Sugarland, uh, but here in uh in the good town of Cady, we're Los Cucos people. 00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:35.279 Uh and I always thought I was going on a mission trip uh to Mexico, and I I love I love food. 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:36.800 I just love especially Mexican food. 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:38.160 I just love Mexican food. 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:44.240 And uh my my idea was that we're going on the border trip and we're going down into Mexico, and I was so excited about the food. 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:46.879 Like I was excited about I'm gonna get some real authentic Mexican food. 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:52.720 So I get there and we get some real corn tortillas in front of me, rice and beans, you name it, chicken, whatever, beef. 00:06:52.800 --> 00:07:00.480 And I took a bite, and I was, and I thought my first thought was this is bad, like it's rotten, like something, something is wrong with the food here. 00:07:00.560 --> 00:07:07.279 Like something, I've I had this fantasy land of how amazing this was gonna be, and in that moment I thought, I missed my lost cuckoo's. 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:18.480 Like, I want to go back to my text mix because what happened here in the States, we took this Mexican culture and this the states culture, and we and they combine the two to what we literally call, we call it text mix. 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:20.399 And this is what is happening in Rome. 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:27.519 These two cultures are coming together, and there's a in a there's an emergence of a new culture, and Paul is fighting it. 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:29.120 He's saying, hey, don't cave in. 00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:30.560 Don't don't don't cave in. 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:31.519 He's laboring. 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:35.680 He's saying, as we read in Psalm 89, who can compare to the Lord? 00:07:35.759 --> 00:07:39.439 The title of this morning is that Jesus is beyond comparison. 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:42.639 Jesus is beyond, he's beyond comparison. 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:46.480 And we see that at the first point in Colossians 1, verse 13 and 14. 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:48.480 The Bible says that Jesus is the Savior. 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:50.240 Jesus is the Savior. 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:51.680 Verse 13, the Bible says this. 00:07:51.759 --> 00:08:02.800 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness, and he has transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom, in Jesus, we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:05.439 This word delivered, it's an interesting word. 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:08.000 It's a re in the Greek it's rehomi. 00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:13.519 It means to rescue, it means to redeem, it means to buy back, it means it means to purchase. 00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:19.360 And we see in Colossians 1, Paul's picking up on these Old Testament things, and he's gonna begin to talk about redemption. 00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:22.160 If you want to talk about redemption, you go back to the book of Exodus. 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:29.680 One of the most beautiful pictures of redemption, of God buying back and purchasing purchasing his people, is seen in Exodus. 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:39.440 When God's people are enslaved under Egyptian bondage, and they're they're crying out, How long, O Lord, how long are we going to remain under impression? 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:43.679 And there's this amazing phrase in Exodus, they're in that burning bush moment with Moses. 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:48.879 God hears the cry of his people and he comes down to rescue them. 00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:50.879 Paul picks up on this. 00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:59.279 He says, Not not just a physical rescue, but when Jesus comes in the picture, he's talking about a spiritual, a spiritual redemption. 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:14.080 Because if you don't know Jesus, if you don't have a relationship with him, if you've never trusted in him, the Bible says, Paul says, not me, but but what Paul says is that we are under the rule and domain of darkness and need of deliverance, and we cannot do it on our own. 00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:14.879 We can't. 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:22.320 If if we could do it on our own, if we could get outside our bondage of our sin and get outside of the domain of darkness, why did Jesus have to come? 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:24.080 But he c but he came. 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:28.399 And he came to seek and save that was which was lost. 00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:31.919 In this kingdom, there is there's redemption, there is forgiveness. 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:33.679 Jesus is savior. 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:35.759 Jesus is also God. 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:39.519 Jesus, second point, Jesus is also God. 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:41.919 This point alone has huge implications. 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:52.639 Huge Jesus is not just a good prophet, he's not just a good man, he's not just uh someone who has good moral values, but according to Paul, Jesus, Jesus is God. 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:54.080 Look at verse 15 for me. 00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:56.159 Paul writes, he is Jesus. 00:09:56.320 --> 00:10:03.679 Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all over all creation. 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:06.559 There's there's three there's three words that that stand out to me. 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:07.679 The first one is firstborn. 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:10.960 We saw this in Romans 8 around verse 20 29, where we picked up this. 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:12.639 Does this mean that Jesus was created? 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:15.679 And is it in Paul's saying, uh absolutely, absolutely not. 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:23.120 This this word firstborn deals with rank, it deals with preeminence, it deals, it deals with authority, it deals with uniqueness. 00:10:23.200 --> 00:10:31.120 Uh, it was used over 130 times in uh in the Old Testament and always referred to rank, power. 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:33.440 Oh, we always to saddest. 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:37.279 And the second word that we that I that we'll look into is this word invisible. 00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:39.360 He is the image of the invisible God. 00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:42.320 God is invisible, no one has seen him. 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:50.000 We've only seen, we've only seen his works, whether it be through his word or within our with our within our own conscience. 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:53.440 The closest person to see God was Moses. 00:10:53.759 --> 00:10:55.679 You guys remember back in Exodus 33? 00:10:55.840 --> 00:11:04.080 Where God is leading his people, he's saying, Hey, I'm gonna bring my people, I'm gonna deliver you out, I'm gonna buy you, I'm gonna rescue you, I'm gonna bring you into a land flowing with milk and honey. 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:04.799 That sounds great. 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:05.360 Count me. 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:06.240 I want that. 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:07.440 God brings his people out. 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:12.399 They begin to be stiff-necked, as according to what the Old Testament says, and rebellious, and they start doing what they want to do. 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:17.759 And God says, Hey, I'm gonna remove my presence from you guys because you're gonna because you keep doing what you want to do. 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:25.840 And Moses intercedes, is like, oh Lord, please don't, please don't, because if your presence doesn't dwell within us, what's gonna what's gonna make us distinct from the other people? 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:30.320 We cannot operate and function what you called us to do if your presence doesn't go with us. 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:34.480 And God relents, and in that moment, I don't know what was the deal. 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:40.720 I don't know if it's like a camp, like closing song lights, and I don't know what it was, but Moses just blurts out, hey God, show show me your glory. 00:11:42.639 --> 00:11:43.600 Show me your glory. 00:11:43.679 --> 00:11:45.440 I want I wanna I want to see you. 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:46.799 You know what God says in them? 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:58.399 He looked he looks at He looks at Moses and he says, Hey, Moses, I'm so awesome and I'm so glorious, and I'm so holy that your eyes cannot see me, because if you saw me, you you would die, that you would cease to exist. 00:11:58.480 --> 00:11:59.440 So here's what I'm gonna do. 00:11:59.519 --> 00:12:01.679 I'm gonna take you and I'm gonna put you in the cleft of the rock. 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:03.279 I'm gonna I'm gonna put you back in the back. 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:09.279 Alright, I'm gonna put you back there and I'm gonna pass by you, and all the only thing that you can see is just a glimpse of my backside. 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:11.600 Because of how holy and how awesome I am. 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:13.519 That's that's all you can take. 00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:19.759 So God puts him in the cleft of the rock and he does one of these, does one of he does one of these, puts his hand out, puts Moses by, and puts his hand. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:21.759 We think NCAA came up with the Heisman. 00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:30.080 God came over that a long time ago back in Exodus 33, as he put Moses back in the cleft of the rock, as he did one, as he did one of it to cover up, because no one has seen God. 00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:34.480 No one has seen the fullness of God, which I want to ask us a question. 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:37.600 How can this invisible invisible God be known? 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:40.240 How can this invisible God be known? 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:48.960 Paul answers us that question with this that He is the image, He is the image of the invisible God. 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:53.840 Everything that it means to be God is seen in Jesus. 00:12:54.080 --> 00:13:02.879 This word image means icon, it means likeness, it means a visible expression, it means a divine imprint of God's being, or simply put, it means a portrait. 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:06.559 Growing up in my household, my mom loves pictures. 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:09.440 She just loves to take like constantly. 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:13.600 If it wasn't a uh it wasn't if it wasn't just a camera, it was actually a recorder. 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:17.120 Like there's always a constant, constant filming of our family. 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:21.519 Like if you go to our house, go to my mom's closet, there's like seasons of 1995, the cotton family. 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:31.600 Like not just like episodes, I'm talking about seasons upon seasons of cassettes upon cassettes of what of what uh of I'm not just talking about like just games and sports events and church events. 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:35.360 Um I'm talking about we wake up and we're eating a bowl of cereal and my mom's filming us. 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:36.799 Like, mom, isn't it exciting? 00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:38.080 Like, what are we doing? 00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:40.559 Like, uh cool, uh I I I like Lucky Charms. 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:44.639 I guess like that's all I got because my mom loved, she she still does. 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:50.960 And it was it was back in the day before she tried to be sneaky too with the camera because like nowadays they're real they're real small, like you can kind of hide. 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:52.799 Back in the early 90s, you couldn't hide. 00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:58.159 Remember those things you had like a bazooka on your shoulder and your kid around mom's all trying to be sneaky with us trying to go, mom. 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:00.879 I see you, I see, I see what you're trying to, I see what you're doing. 00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:05.360 Uh she she loved it, but there's this one time, it's always a big deal to go take pictures. 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:09.039 You guys remember it was it was always a big deal to go uh and get a family portrait. 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:10.960 Nowadays you just call somebody and they show up at your house. 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:12.000 It wasn't like that before. 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:15.039 We had to get dressed up, we had to we had to we had to get all the right gear on. 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:19.840 And my mom decided there was there's this deal going on, and it was at Sam's. 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:21.679 Sam's Club. 00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:23.200 Like, what? 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:28.720 Like, apparently it's such a great deal that my mom decided that we're gonna make a trek, we're gonna make a journey out to Sam's Club. 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:31.039 And and Katie, everybody, everybody knows everybody. 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:41.039 All right, so we show up at Sam's Club, as embarrassing as that is, with my cowboy hat on, and and and what they give us is they give us a black shirt uh to match the black backdrop in the background. 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:43.200 It's like this long, silky, long shirt. 00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:45.120 I feel less of a man just talking about it. 00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:50.960 That's what we were wearing that day, and we go in and they put us not in the back, like where the tire section is. 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:56.720 They place us right in front, people, like right in front where everybody and their mom can see us as they're walking through. 00:14:56.799 --> 00:14:59.120 Uh my friends are coming in, they're punking us, like punking me. 00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:00.000 Like, ah, what do you do? 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:01.200 Yeah, I I know, I know. 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:04.320 I it was always an interesting dynamic, too, to see my mom and dad relate. 00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:05.279 My mom really wanted this. 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:09.120 And as older as I get as I look back, my dad just kind of submitted and just went along with it. 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:12.480 Uh, it was always interesting uh to see, and I I love that picture. 00:15:12.639 --> 00:15:18.399 If you walk into our house now and you look right before uh the staircase to the left, we see that picture. 00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:24.000 And it's it's it's it's a picture of a black backdrop with our with our black shirts, and it looks like we have floating heads. 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:30.399 If you go to if you if you go to www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com, we're we're we're probably on there. 00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:31.759 Uh probably we we may be. 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:37.919 It's one of the most awkward photos, but when I when I see that I can't help but laugh and chuckle because because I remember what I remember that day. 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:39.919 I I remember what it was like. 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:41.840 I remember all that went down. 00:15:42.799 --> 00:15:46.799 You think, Aaron, why do why do you talk why do you talk go so long to talk about a portrait? 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:53.200 Because looking at Jesus as the image, we see what God is like. 00:15:54.399 --> 00:15:57.360 We see, first off, we see that that we see that God is merciful. 00:15:57.679 --> 00:16:00.720 You see Jesus come into a city back in John 8. 00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:11.120 They caught a woman in adultery, whether it's staged or whatever it be, and and they they throw her in front of Jesus and they say, Hey, the law of Moses commands us to stone such a woman. 00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:14.000 She she is guilty and deserves punish punishment. 00:16:14.080 --> 00:16:15.679 What, Jesus, what do you say? 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:17.440 And I love the response of Jesus. 00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:21.600 Sometimes he answers directly, sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't, sometimes he asks a question. 00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:23.919 This time he gets down, he starts drawing in the sand. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:25.279 And in that moment, I'm like, what is he doing? 00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:26.159 Is he writing his name? 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:27.039 Is he building a sand? 00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:28.080 Like, what is he doing? 00:16:28.240 --> 00:16:35.039 But also in that moment, he look he looks up, he looks at the people, and he and he says, Hey, he who without sin cast the first stone. 00:16:35.279 --> 00:16:40.080 And all the older people are like, Yeah, I'm done, I got it, uh, I I can't I can't handle that because I I know I got some sin. 00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:47.600 Sorry, with the older to the younger, one by one they start, they start departing, and then there's this intimate moment with Jesus and the woman who is guilty. 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:48.639 Who's guilty. 00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:50.960 And Jesus looks at her and he asks her a question. 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:52.799 He says, Hey, did anybody condemn you? 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:56.240 And she replies, No one, Lord, no, no one condemns you. 00:16:56.320 --> 00:16:58.159 And he looks at neither do I, go and sin. 00:16:58.320 --> 00:16:59.600 Go and sin no more. 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:00.799 That he's merciful. 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:02.320 We also see this in the prodigal son. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:05.599 Remember the story of the parable, we'll unpack that in the summer? 00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:10.480 Where God tells us this story with religious leaders and tax collectors and sinners present. 00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:15.599 And Jesus began to talk about that the son who went to his dad and was like, Hey, I want my share of the share of the estate. 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:16.720 I don't really care about our family. 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:17.759 I want to go do what I want to do. 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:19.200 I'm gonna go to Vegas, party it up. 00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:20.160 That's what that was my plan. 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:21.599 I'm gonna I'm gonna go do all that. 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:29.039 And he and he gets there and he he loses all his money, loses all his wealth, and he he is at the lowest of lows. 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:35.759 But there's this phrase that when he came to his senses, when he realized what he lost, he made a trek back home. 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:42.240 But here's my favorite part of the story as the son from a distance, the father sees him instead of hanging back, he pursues. 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:46.480 And and he and he makes he makes he says, Bring out the robe, bring out the finger. 00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:47.599 Hey, let's throw, let's throw a party. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:51.759 But this son of mine who was once lost has now has now been found. 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:54.799 We see that God is merciful. 00:17:55.359 --> 00:17:57.440 We also see that he's he's compassionate. 00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:02.400 We also see that he is compassionate with Lazarus passing in John 11. 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:05.920 Jesus rolls up on the scene and there's just just grief happening. 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:10.640 Uh Lazarus, his friend, had just passed, and he and he comes in, and Mary and Martha are so upset. 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:14.160 Jesus, if you've only would have been here, everything would have been made right. 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:15.920 You could you could have you could have saved him. 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:20.480 And Jesus, not afraid of that moment in verse uh verse 35 of chapter 11. 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:25.200 This short phrase that we all know, there's the shortest verse in the Bible says that it says that Jesus wept. 00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:34.640 Instead of hanging back, instead of seeing the uncomfortable and the awkwardness of of death and being there, he actually weeps. 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:41.599 That when tragedy hits home, it's okay to be sad, but we don't be sad uh for those that do that because we have we have a hope. 00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:47.759 And Jesus comes and he pursues and he brings he brings he brings hope because he's compassionate. 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:53.200 He says, Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. 00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:59.839 How often when I've gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you weren't willing. 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:02.160 He is he's compassionate. 00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:04.559 He's also he's also all powerful. 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:06.240 He's also all powerful. 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:09.680 One of my favorite stories in the Bible is John 9, where Jesus heals a blind man. 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:12.079 He he comes in and he heals a blind man. 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:13.599 The blind man can't help himself. 00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:18.640 He he goes away from Jesus just shouting all the more of what happened to him, of how excited he was. 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:20.240 You remember that first time when you got saved? 00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:26.880 Remember that moment where your life was changed, that whole transferring from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of light, you just couldn't help but talk. 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:35.759 You're like, you're talking to your next door neighbor you never talked to before in your life, you're telling your cousin, your friends, everybody who you get in, you're talking to the person at the grocery store, uh, you're talking to the account, hey, have you heard about Jesus? 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:37.759 Like, oh no, I have, like, let me tell you about him. 00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:41.599 All right, I was once a wreck, but I now I was once lost, but now I've been found. 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:42.559 This blind man goes out. 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:48.640 He can't just help help himself to be talking about and the Pharisees come up and they ask him a question, they say, Hey, hey, what what what what happened? 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:49.839 What what what's the deal? 00:19:50.079 --> 00:19:55.440 He said, All I know is I was once blind, but now but now I see. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:20:04.400 And there's this amazing phrase in John 9 32, the Bible says, Never since the world had begun has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:08.720 If this man were not from God, he could do he could do nothing. 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:15.599 Because Jesus is compassionate, because he is merciful, because he is all powerful. 00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:33.839 We read in verse 16 of Colossians 1, the Bible says this for by him, by Jesus, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible, invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him, and they exist for him. 00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:36.880 Jesus was actively involved in creation. 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:47.119 All things are subject to him, and the goal of creation, as we saw in Romans 8, as they as creation groans, as we as as as we groan as well, we we long to see the glory of God happen. 00:20:47.279 --> 00:20:51.599 That's why it says in Psalm 19:1 that the heavens declare the glory of God. 00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:55.839 The heavens declare the glory of the glory of God. 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:00.640 As a family growing up, I never took much vacation, we never really went on vacation. 00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:02.400 The only thing I got is the Smoky Mountains. 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:05.279 That's like that's all that's the only place that we uh we really went to. 00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:20.000 But I've I've seen pictures and I've seen I've seen places we're gonna take the our our high school students uh to Colorado and we're gonna be exposed to the mountains and and and and and other places around the world, like Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon, these these these places everybody travels to go to. 00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:27.279 And we and we travel there because we we wanna we want to see something magnificent, we want to see something bigger than ourselves. 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:42.079 Uh we want to be confronted with with the glory of God and in church as we are confronted with the beautiful beautifulness of creation in the heavens, and as the mountains point upward, it is to draw our attention to the one who created it. 00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:49.279 And according to Paul, it's it's it's Jesus, the creator of all things. 00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:59.039 No one in that moment, as they're standing before the Grand Canyon, as they're standing in front of Niagara Falls, as they're standing in all these amazing places, no one stands there and says, Look how awesome I am. 00:21:59.200 --> 00:21:59.759 No one does. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:00.400 Does that. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:02.160 No one goes in there and says, hey, look at me. 00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:04.480 Like in those places, I get so frustrated with the Tor guides. 00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:06.160 Hey, Tor guide, stop talking. 00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:06.880 Move to the side. 00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:19.519 I want to see the view because something about placing myself in front of the bigness and the creation of what Jesus has created stirs within me a sense of something's bigger than me. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:22.079 Something is bigger than me. 00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:30.319 Not as Jesus Savior, not only is he the creator, but he's also the sustainer. 00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:31.920 Look at me with verse 17. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:38.960 The Bible says this as he is before all things, and in him, in him all things hold together. 00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:43.519 That the world is not a ca it's not a chaos, it's it's it's called a cosmos. 00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:49.440 That there's unity and there's order, and all creation points to the one who sustains it. 00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:56.480 Literally, the seat that you sit in now, the laws of gravity that are set in place, Jesus is holding you there. 00:22:56.799 --> 00:22:59.200 If the sun was any further, we'd freeze to death. 00:22:59.279 --> 00:23:02.240 If the sun was any closer, we would be burnt up. 00:23:02.319 --> 00:23:05.599 That there is there's a system, there's a system in place. 00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:10.720 And Jesus, according to Paul, holds and sustains it all together. 00:23:10.960 --> 00:23:18.559 Hebrews 1 says this says, He is the radiance of the glory of God in the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds. 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:21.359 He upholds the universe by his power. 00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:22.880 I love that word upholds. 00:23:23.599 --> 00:23:32.400 I like it so much, I had to geek out a little bit and do some research that this word carries uphold literally means to carry. 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:38.559 To carry, as we saw baby dedication earlier, as we as we saw a mom hold, hold hold their baby. 00:23:38.799 --> 00:23:48.319 As you many parents out there have who have have held uh their children, we see that that that word upheld carries that notion of being carried. 00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:53.759 There's a moment in my life I've only been sick so often, uh which is a blessing uh in itself. 00:23:53.839 --> 00:23:55.599 But there's this moment in high school I got really sick. 00:23:55.680 --> 00:24:03.680 I went to the doctor uh to get checked up on, and there was uh I it was it was so bad that I can literally count on how many times on my hand how many times I passed out. 00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:05.759 And this is one of the times I I passed out. 00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:11.200 I'm there and uh the last thing I remember is my hand on the wall, and then me passing, and then me finally coming to. 00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:16.400 But when I came to, I thought I'd be sitting down, I thought I'd be like stationed somewhere, but I wasn't. 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:20.240 Uh I was actually being carried, and I forgot to mention I was actually in high school when this happened. 00:24:20.319 --> 00:24:26.559 All right, so I'm 15 years old, I got an image to live up to, uh, and I look up and my dad is carrying me. 00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:31.119 All right, my dad had caught me, and as I can't finally, his face is right here, my face is right here. 00:24:31.200 --> 00:24:34.160 There's this moment of I'm not supposed to be carried. 00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:35.839 I need to get down off of here. 00:24:35.920 --> 00:24:38.000 Like, this is what if someone sees me, someone's walks in. 00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:44.480 Could you imagine you've walked into the doctor's office and you saw a grown man like holding a 15-year-old uh teenager? 00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:45.920 Like that was me, that moment. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:50.559 That that's that's that's what was going was going on, and in that moment I was like, I don't, I don't want to be carried. 00:24:50.799 --> 00:24:52.079 I don't I don't want to be carried. 00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:56.480 Like, set set me down, even though I literally cannot go on my own. 00:24:56.880 --> 00:24:58.000 Put me down. 00:24:58.640 --> 00:25:10.000 Jesus not only sustains the physical cosmos, but when we are an unable, incapable of moving forward, Jesus sustains and he strengthens. 00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:24.160 That's why it says in Psalm 73, Whom am I in heaven but you, nothing I desire but is besides you, even though my flesh and my heart may fail, even though this physical body may fail, you, God, you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:28.400 He sustains the physical universe. 00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:32.720 He also carries us and sustains us when we can't on our own. 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:36.400 And fifthly, Jesus is sovereign over his church. 00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:38.960 Jesus is sovereign over his church. 00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:40.480 It says this in verse 18. 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:43.680 And he is the head of the body, the church. 00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:51.680 He is the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, that in everything, that in everything he might be preeminent. 00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:55.440 The church doesn't exist so that a name could be put on the side of a building. 00:25:55.599 --> 00:25:58.240 No, this this is this is Jesus' church. 00:25:58.400 --> 00:26:05.119 He is the head, the one in charge who establishes unity and is a source of spiritual growth. 00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:17.920 If I well, I'm gonna have the graduates here next service, and one of the words that I'm gonna speak to them is that there's this moment as a teenager you get older, you think, or maybe even some of us in this room, we think that we've outgrown our need for Jesus. 00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:21.519 We think that we we can do this, we can do this on our own. 00:26:21.680 --> 00:26:27.839 That's why we started our service with Hebrews 10 of just of holding fast, holding fast to the confession of our hope. 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:31.599 And later it says, hey, hey, we are to stir and push another towards godliness. 00:26:31.839 --> 00:26:33.680 Don't neglect the assembly. 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:34.640 Why? 00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:38.960 Why don't neglect the assembly when you got freedom underneath your belt graduates? 00:26:39.039 --> 00:26:44.000 And as you head off to school and you and you got some freedom underneath you, there's gonna be your parents aren't gonna be there to wake you up. 00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:45.440 They're not gonna be there to make your bed. 00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:46.480 Uh that was like a shock to me. 00:26:46.559 --> 00:26:47.119 I was like, what? 00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:48.240 Why is my bed messed up? 00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:50.720 Uh like there's dirty dishes in the sink. 00:26:50.799 --> 00:26:54.000 Uh like I had to do all I'd actually wake up for church on my own. 00:26:54.160 --> 00:26:56.319 Like, what is tragedy has hit the house. 00:26:56.480 --> 00:26:57.359 I wasn't used to it. 00:26:57.440 --> 00:27:12.000 And there's these moments where there's freedom that exists, and if we don't go underneath the head, the one in charge in the church when we neglect the assembly, we are taking ourselves out of the picture for potential spiritual growth. 00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:16.640 How much we need wisdom, how how prone we are to wander. 00:27:16.880 --> 00:27:19.200 Jesus, as the head of the church, the one in charge. 00:27:19.359 --> 00:27:20.400 What qualifies him? 00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:22.400 He's existed from the beginning. 00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:25.759 He he rose he rose from the dead. 00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:29.039 And he makes Christianity different than all else. 00:27:29.279 --> 00:27:31.599 Death and sin has been dethroned. 00:27:31.920 --> 00:27:34.000 If you are united with him. 00:27:35.119 --> 00:27:48.880 Lastly, not only is Jesus Savior, not only is Jesus God, not only is he creator, not only is he sovereign over his church, but lastly, Jesus is enough. 00:27:49.680 --> 00:27:51.680 Jesus, Jesus is enough. 00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:53.359 Look at it with me, verse 19. 00:27:53.920 --> 00:27:55.359 The scriptures say this. 00:27:55.599 --> 00:28:01.920 It says, For in him, in Jesus, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. 00:28:02.079 --> 00:28:13.119 And through him, through Jesus, to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace by the blood, by the blood of his cross. 00:28:13.599 --> 00:28:23.680 In Romans 8, the last thing that we that we ended on here in the service was referring back to us belonging to Jesus, that we've been sufantos, we've been united together. 00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:31.359 If you place your faith in him, there is there's this unity that exists between you and Jesus, that literally you are united with him. 00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:39.519 And if we if we remember that, if we put our minds to that, Paul says that all the fullness of God dwells in Jesus, and we've been connected to Jesus. 00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:43.680 This means that we have access to this fullness. 00:28:47.119 --> 00:28:49.519 That's why the point is that Jesus is enough. 00:28:49.599 --> 00:28:55.119 That's why Jesus says in John 4 to the to the woman at the well, he says, Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. 00:28:55.279 --> 00:28:59.119