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Kingdom Key (Colossians 1:13-23)
37 Plays2 years ago
Kingdom Key (Colossians 1:13-23)
Colossians: The Preeminence of Christ
Sunday Message recorded 06 August 2023
by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
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Transcript
Opening Gratitude and Parental Encouragement
00:00:06
Speaker
Well, it has been a great morning already. I thank the Lord so much for his goodness. To see children want to follow him is just breathtaking every single time. So I thank the Lord so much for each one of y'all and just rejoicing over not only the children, but also the families for you moms and dads. Thank you. Thank you for how you're leading your kids to follow Christ. I want to ask if you would open up God's word to Colossians
Invitation to Scripture: Colossians 1:13-23
00:00:34
Speaker
Colossians chapter 1 verses 13 down through verse 23 Colossians 1 13 to 23 we will have it on the screen But we also have a copy of the scriptures in the pew and that particular Version or translation is that ESV that'll be the translation I'm reading from so you could turn there as well but anyway, I want to invite you to look at Colossians chapter 1
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Speaker
verses 13 down through verse 23.
Comforting Mandy and Monica
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Speaker
I just want to say a personal word. I know it's been a hard year for Mandy and Monica. I know it has. But today was a good day, you know, and I just feel like the Lord is placing on my heart
00:01:25
Speaker
to say that you know this note that your daughter wrote, Mandy, it's too precious for me. I want to give it back to you that you could know as you look into the future all that's ahead.
00:01:40
Speaker
If you don't know, Mandy and Monica lost first their mother, Fran Gillette, and then their dad, Monty Gillette. And so it's been a tough year. But to see the sun come out like this and to see a sweet morning like this is so significant. We're standing with you. We love you guys.
Life's Mysteries: Jesus as the Master Key
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Speaker
You know, life can sometimes seem mysterious, almost as if what we're searching for is behind a locked door, not just a closed door that you can open, but a locked door.
00:02:14
Speaker
It'd be nice if there was just one master key for life. You know, I have a set of keys. I actually left them in my other pants up in the the baptistry up there. But anyway, I have a set of keys. I would show them to you. But on that key ring, there is a key to this church, and it's like the master key.
00:02:34
Speaker
And we may give you a key every now and then where you're going to use the building, but it only allows you to get into certain places. But a master key allows us access anywhere.
Worldview Questions and Jesus' Role
00:02:44
Speaker
What's the master key of life? I think it's Jesus. I don't think it's a what. I think it's a who.
00:02:52
Speaker
You know, to a church, not in Colossae like we're about to read, but to a church in a place called Philadelphia, the Lord said in Revelation 3, seven and eight, the words of the Holy One, the true one who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut and who shuts and no one opens.
00:03:16
Speaker
You know, that's how powerful the Lord Jesus Christ is. And as we read these words, I think you'll realize why. You see, apologetics and anthropology, they tell us that our worldview, our worldview is what guides us in answering life's ultimate questions. What do I mean when I say ultimate questions? I mean things like these that are on the screen. Who am I?
00:03:42
Speaker
How did life originate? Why am I here? What is the purpose of life? What gives life meaning? What is wrong with the world? What causes evil and brokenness that we see in our world? And how can things ever be made right again?
Reading: Jesus' Role in Redemption and Creation
00:03:59
Speaker
What happens after we die? We see this book, Colossians, that's found within God's word. Colossians was written to demonstrate the supremacy
00:04:11
Speaker
of Christ. It's offering us, people back then in Colossae, but people today, it's offering us one master key that will open all of those locked doors in our lives. You know, along the blade of a key, it doesn't matter what kind of key you're looking at, along the blade of any key are cuts or grooves, bidding that matches the lock
00:04:39
Speaker
So I want you to listen closely in Colossians 1 13 to 23 as it reveals who Jesus is and explains why is it that he and he alone is the master key of life? So if you would, in honor of God's word, would you please stand?
Jesus' Preeminence in Creation and Sustenance
00:04:57
Speaker
Let me read through here. You can follow along on the screen or look in your copy of God's word. But beginning with Colossians 1 verse 13, it says, he has delivered us
00:05:08
Speaker
from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He
00:05:20
Speaker
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 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, and in Him all things hold together.
00:05:47
Speaker
and he is the head of the body of the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything
Marveling at Earth's Design through Jesus
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Speaker
he might be preeminent. 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, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you who once were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds
00:06:18
Speaker
He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his cross, by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven and of which I Paul became a minister. Let's pray together.
00:06:46
Speaker
Lord, you said that if we would lift up Christ, that you would draw all men into Him. That's really what we want. I just want to sort of step aside, Lord, and I want you to take your word and just put the spotlight on one person. Put the spotlight on the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is worthy.
00:07:07
Speaker
He is worthy to receive the praise and the honor from all that we saw already for all that we celebrated together in worship. And so now Lord, just adjust our focus that we would not look for what is found only in Christ, but we would realize that he should be preeminent because he is what we're looking for more than anything else in life.
Jesus as the Manifestation of God
00:07:31
Speaker
Thank you that a long time ago you gave a man named Andre Crouch the song.
00:07:37
Speaker
Jesus is the answer for the world today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you, you may be seated.
00:07:45
Speaker
You know, verse 18 sounds like a master key, doesn't it? That in everything he might be preeminent? Wow. Only the Lord can unlock those locked doors that you're bumping up against in life. So I want us to look at this text together and to observe five truths that support the supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:08:08
Speaker
The first one I want you to notice is not found in verses 13 and 14 where we started. Skip down in the text just a bit till you get to verses 16 and 17. I want to show you how the supremacy of Christ is so clear over creation. You see two verses here, verse 16 and 17, two verses in just one pronoun. Did you see how often the one pronoun
00:08:35
Speaker
him or he is mentioned as it goes through there. Wow, 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 and in him all things hold together. That sounds like a master key.
00:09:00
Speaker
What the Lord's trying to help us to do is to say, I created you. I created this wonderful world that we live in, a beautiful world.
00:09:08
Speaker
You see, some don't want to accept it, but it's true. And so in the truth of God's Word, He's trying to tell us, I care about you. I made you. Sometimes in life, we have questions. How do I know that God cares about me because He made you? You are a special creation. You're not an accident. God intentionally made you just like He intentionally made this whole world.
00:09:33
Speaker
Now that school is getting back
Life's Purpose: Created for God's Glory
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Speaker
into operation and some of us are beginning to move forward, seems like we're moving awfully fast, doesn't it? Well, if you think we are moving fast, if you think you are moving fast and your family is moving fast, get this. Do you know how fast that the earth orbits around the sun? The speed is 67,000 miles an hour. Some of you may say, I think I'm going there. I think I got that.
00:10:02
Speaker
But that would be 18.5 miles a second. 18.5 miles a second would be like one second and you're in Weimer or one second and you're at Ellinger. Just imagine how fast that would be.
00:10:17
Speaker
That is how fast we're going around the sun. And yet, do you feel sort of disoriented? I mean, when I went to Disneyland with my girls, I got so mixed up on the teacups. Because Elisa said, I think it'd be fun to just spin the teacup. And I said, yeah, let's do it like any dad. Well, I mean, what am I going to do? He said, no, I don't think that's going to be good for dad.
00:10:38
Speaker
So anyway, I said, yeah, let's do it. Man, I could hardly get off the platform up there. I was trying to say, man, the world is spinning. The world is going around, and yet I don't feel dizzy. Isn't that just an amazing thing how God created? Do you know that our earth isn't too close to the sun?
00:10:57
Speaker
But it's also not too far away from the sun. If we were very much closer to the sun, we'd burn up. If we were further away, we'd freeze to death.
Jesus' Role in Salvation and Redemption
00:11:06
Speaker
But you know what? We're just right. How is it that it's just right? Well, these verses tell us. These verses actually tell us something in verse 17 that maybe you've not considered.
00:11:19
Speaker
It says that He is before all things. It's trying to tell us that Jesus, God the Father, the Holy Spirit, preexisted before this earth was made. Wow. It also tells us that for by Him all things were created. So it's His design. He's the architect. He designed it. You ever thought about how our world seems to be so designed? Could have just happened by chance.
00:11:48
Speaker
But then also, I think it's interesting how it says in verse 16, all things were created through him. You see, he's not just the architect. He's the builder. He's the carpenter. He's the one putting this whole thing together at the very beginning.
00:12:04
Speaker
And I'm thinking, oh wow, you're the agent of creation. He's the owner of creation because it says in verse 16, all things were created. But at the end of that verse, what does it say? All things were created. You were created. I was created. All of us are created. We were created.
00:12:21
Speaker
for him, for him. That's why he's supreme. That's why he should be preeminent. That's why people are still looking all around the world. You know that every tribe, every people, every nation, they were created to praise God, to honor him because he created them.
00:12:40
Speaker
And you may say, yeah, He just kind of wound things up and He left it alone. But see, that doesn't match what God is revealing to us in verse 17, where He says, no, He's still sustaining creation. And in Him, all things hold together right now. You know, what holds an Adam together? What is it that doesn't just cause things to fly apart?
00:13:02
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It's the Lord. Only
Jesus: Divine and Human Revelation
00:13:04
Speaker
He can do this. So I just think it's amazing. So if you're sitting there today and you're saying, you know, I've never really heard a satisfactory answer to how I got here, to who I am, then I just want you to know the first answer to that question is Jesus.
00:13:20
Speaker
Jesus made you, and you're very special and you're very loved. But I want you to see a second thing, the supremacy of Christ, not only in creation, but also the supremacy of Christ in revelation. You know, if you look at verse 15, it says, he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
00:13:43
Speaker
Maybe you've heard about this before, but I heard the other day that there was a mother who walks into her living room and her little boy, Johnny, little Johnny has a sketch pad and some crayons, and he's just coloring as fast as he can go. And so the mother says, hey, Johnny, what you got going there? He said, oh, I'm drawing a picture of God. She said, oh, wait a minute now.
00:14:09
Speaker
Nobody knows what God looks like. He looked up at her with confidence. He said, they will when I get done. Well, we don't know what God looks like, but I'll tell you who does, God. God is trying to paint a picture in scripture. He's showing us in Christ. What does God look like? Is he mean? Is he against you? No. Look at who Jesus revealed the Father to be.
00:14:39
Speaker
That's what I want you to notice in this verse. There's going to be three different stops that we need to make in verse 15. The first one is this. He represents God just right. It says he is the image. He's the representation of the Father. You know, if you were to go to Hebrews chapter one and read from
00:15:01
Speaker
Hebrews 1-1 through Hebrews 1-4, those four verses, it would say that a long time ago, God spoke through the Old Testament prophets, right? So that He had them inspired and they were writing down all that was revealed to them. As a matter of fact, think about the revelation of God.
00:15:19
Speaker
He speaks through creation. You know, you look up sometimes and you think, there's gotta be a God, create something that beautiful. But then you look not only at creation that tells us a little bit about God, but you look at the scriptural record. And the scriptural record definitely tells us more, way more of who God is than you would ever notice just by looking at the stars and the planets and the trees and the animals and the mountains and the beaches and all those kinds of things.
00:15:48
Speaker
But there's something that he's focusing. He's focusing even more who is exactly like God. Oh, that's easy.
00:15:59
Speaker
Jesus. Jesus is the exact representation of the nature of God. You want to know what God is like in his character, in his nature, and study the life of Jesus Christ because Christ was an image. He was a representative, but notice what it goes on to say. He's the image of the invisible God.
00:16:22
Speaker
I don't know about you, but I've never seen God. I've never seen him. I've seen his work. I've seen what he can do. I've never really seen the wind, but you can see how the wind moves things. That's kind of like it is for me. But you know what Jesus did? He wasn't just a representative of God. He is God.
00:16:43
Speaker
He manifested God. When Jesus came to this earth, he was the exact manifestation of the Father. And that's why you can see in places like John 14 verses 6 through 11, where one of Jesus' disciples says this to Jesus, Lord, show us the Father and it's enough for us.
00:17:07
Speaker
And he looks at him and he said, I've been with you all this time and you don't know that when you see me, you've seen the Father. The Father is in me and I'm in the Father. Wait a minute, what are you saying? Look at these verses, for example. You look at verse 13 and it calls Jesus the beloved son, the beloved son. You look down and it's in, let's see, verse 19. For in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.
00:17:36
Speaker
There's no part of God that wasn't revealed in Jesus. You look in chapter two and verse nine, something very similar, for in Christ, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. So God is saying, once again, the little boy drawing the picture, we're saying, I wish I knew what God looked like. Let me just try.
00:17:58
Speaker
But Jesus came so we wouldn't have to try. Jesus said, I'll show
Jesus' Deliverance: A Military Metaphor
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Speaker
you. I'll show you exactly what the father is like. And so he did. And I'm thinking, no wonder he is supreme. No wonder the incarnation at Christmas time when it says that God's with us. No wonder it's so important. But also when it says he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, what does that mean?
00:18:24
Speaker
Well, it doesn't mean he was one of those that was created. Firstborn, put the emphasis on first rather than the emphasis on born. But it's not referring to time. It's referring to rank. It's referring to position. You see, Jesus is not just a part of creation.
00:18:45
Speaker
Oh no, Jesus is over all of creation. We already saw how He was there. He created everything that there is. And so I'm thinking, okay, where are our ultimate questions? They're being answered in Christ, right? Because who am I? Well, I'm someone that God has made.
00:19:03
Speaker
But then I go to the second question, why am I here? Well, I'm here to glorify the Father, just like Jesus. He was showing us your life is about honoring and glorifying God. But let's go to the third thing, the supremacy of Christ in verses 13 and 14 would be salvation, the supremacy of Christ in salvation.
00:19:25
Speaker
Do you remember when I asked the ultimate question, what is wrong? What is wrong with our world? What's wrong with our world and where did all the evil come from? Where did all the pain come from? Maybe you're tempted to point at someone in your family. Don't do that. We want this to be a great day.
00:19:43
Speaker
But all the evil and all the brokenness and all the pain, I'll tell you exactly where it came from. It's in verse 13 and it's in verse 14. Two sources. Let's look at verse 13. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son, the domain of darkness.
00:20:06
Speaker
There is a devil. There is a Satan. And that's why our world has so much evil out there. Remember Adam and Eve? He's still working. And so we have to say, Lord, there is someone behind all this atrocious evil and all this despicable things that are happening. It's the enemy. It's the devil. He's against God.
00:20:27
Speaker
But then notice verse 14 says, oh, wait a minute. We don't get off lightly in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Who did those sins? Who commits sin? Well, the Bible says all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. I know I've sinned. That's why I went to Christ because I needed a savior.
00:20:50
Speaker
But what I want you to see is that it's all right here in this passage. It's a concise, compact answer to all of those difficult, ultimate questions that people struggle with where evil come from. Why is there so much brokenness? If there's a God of love, don't blame it on him. We did that. Don't blame it on him. The devil did that. He made this world good.
00:21:16
Speaker
and he gave us freedom, just like he gave you and me, he gave us freedom.
00:21:21
Speaker
free will to say, am I going to trust him? Am I going to obey him? Am I going to follow him? Or am I going to walk away? You know, I thought it was interesting how that word delivered came from a Greek word, rue of mine. That word comes from another word, rue, which means, get this, to drag out of danger zone, to extract from an enemy, to rescue from great peril,
00:21:49
Speaker
We like to talk about the Navy SEALs, and we should. It's incredible what those guys do. But there's another branch of the military called the PJs. Have you heard about the pararescue guys? They jump. They jump down out of helicopters and airplanes, parachute in.
Resurrection: Proof of Life After Death
00:22:07
Speaker
And what they do is they rescue those who've been wounded, those who are behind enemy lines.
00:22:13
Speaker
So you know what they got to be? They got to be experts in how to defend themselves because they're often in hostile territory. But they also have to be completely certified and so forth medically, where they can treat those as soon as they get those guys, as soon as they drag them out of the danger zone, they get them in the helicopter, the rescue helicopter, and they extract them out of there. So they have to know how to treat them right away.
00:22:38
Speaker
kind of reminds me of the Lord. And now in all of our pain and all of our evil and all of our brokenness and all of our rebellion, our resistance, He still says, I want to rescue you. He's going to keep looking for you. There's a fourth supremacy that I see of Christ that's mentioned in verses 18 and 19, and that is His resurrection.
00:22:59
Speaker
It is true that Jesus died on the cross, that he was physically dead. Lots of people, biblically and outside external sources, will tell us in history, yeah, he really did die. There were a lot of witnesses that saw him die.
00:23:16
Speaker
But you know the amazing thing is that the Bible also says there's proof that He rose from the dead. And that's why in these verses it talks about He's the firstborn from the dead, the firstborn from the dead. And I think to myself, wow, you know, when He was here, you know what was so different about Him? I have never raised anyone from the dead. Never. I can't do it.
00:23:40
Speaker
But you know what? He did. He raised three from the dead that are mentioned in the New Testament. There was a widow, and she lost her only son. There was a man named Jairus, and he lost his daughter. And then there were two sisters, Mary and Martha, and they had a brother named Lazarus. Jesus brought all three of them back from the dead. How can he do that? No, nobody can do that, right? You're right.
00:24:05
Speaker
No human can do that. But you see, you have to remember he's trying to tell us something. He's trying to reveal something to us. And so that's why he's getting us ready when they crucify him on the cross and they place him in the tomb. Three days later, the father said, you know what? My son does not deserve death. He never sinned. He was perfect. He was innocent. And that was the father saying, I accept what he did for you on the cross.
Reconciliation through Jesus' Sacrifice
00:24:32
Speaker
Which leads me to one last thing. Maybe you're saying, is there really life after death?
00:24:37
Speaker
There was life after death for Jesus, and there's life after death for anybody that puts their faith and trust in Him, which leads me to the last question. Perhaps, though, the most difficult question for us as human beings, perhaps for every man, appreciate so much the fathers that stood in the baptistry with me this morning rejoicing with their children. But all of us men, we like to fix things.
00:25:04
Speaker
But would we be honest enough to say there's some things in this life, there's some things in this world that we can't fix? No matter how gifted our hands are, we still can't fix it. Well, guess what? Jesus fixed it.
00:25:21
Speaker
It's the supremacy of Christ by his reconciliation. Notice what it says in verse 20, and through him, same person now, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, all things. And I think, wow, what was the menace? What was the menace to reconciliation? Why couldn't we get this figured out? We can do a lot of things, right?
00:25:47
Speaker
But why couldn't we get this figured out? Well, verse 23 kind of shines the biblical light on it. And it says to us, not verse 23, it's verse 21, and you who once were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds. So God's saying to me, Victor, I've seen all that you've ever done in your life. And that's why you can't down the cross to save anybody.
00:26:15
Speaker
You're a menace to the whole thing of reconciliation. Maybe some of you here today, you feel so guilty. Your sins are piling up. It's weighing you down. Why don't you just go to Jesus because he can unlock that door of guilt. He can unlock that door of shame and let you see freedom. Let you see forgiveness. Let you experience all these things that only he could give.
Conclusion: Jesus' Supremacy in All Realms
00:26:39
Speaker
That's why I'm thinking, wow, the means of reconciliation is in verse 20 and 22, through him, by blood of his cross, he's reconciled in his body of flesh by his death. See the means? It's Christ, it's Christ. That's why he is the master key. It's so meaningful whenever we come to that place where it says, you know what? How's God looking at you today?
00:27:06
Speaker
Well, I'll tell you how God is looking at you if you pray to receive Christ, just like all three of these children. You know how God looks at us? It says here in these verses, verse 22, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. Now that is some kind of reconciliation, that even in God's holy sight,
00:27:29
Speaker
that we are so covered by the blood of Christ that was perfect, that the Father says, you know what? I don't see you with all your flaws. I see you as blameless through Christ, through the shed blood of Christ. That's why it ought to be a motivation for us. Like verse 23 says, hey,
00:27:47
Speaker
I'm gonna live for him until my very last breath. That's what I've been praying for those three that were baptized today. Lord, until their very last breath, help him to live for you. That word, if there, that's found in verse 23 could be since. Since indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard. You know, we should say, Lord, I'm gonna gain momentum. I'm gonna gain motivation because of all that you've done for me.
00:28:17
Speaker
You know, it's interesting in Matthew 16 verses 15 to 20, Jesus promises something. He promises he's going to give us as disciples the keys to the kingdom, the keys to the kingdom.
00:28:31
Speaker
And you may say, what are those keys to the kingdom? Well, there's a lot of different ideas on what the keys of the kingdom could be. But what I think is interesting, look at the context of Matthew 16 verses 15 to 20. What had they just nailed down before Jesus said, you know what? I'm gonna give you the keys of the kingdom. He said, who do men say that I am?
00:28:56
Speaker
And they said, well, some say John the Baptist raised from the dead. Some say Elijah come back, all this kind of stuff. And he said, I need to know one thing. Who do you say that I am? And Peter looked at him and he said, you are the Christ. You are the son of the living God. And Jesus said, I'm going to give you the keys of the kingdom of God. You know, it was so significant, so profound. Why?
00:29:22
Speaker
because it's all about Jesus. The keys of the kingdom could be how Jesus, that one master key, it's like whatever key you need, what are you looking for in your life? It's all founded him.
00:29:35
Speaker
So that's why I think we ought to remember, hey, all those ultimate questions are met in the supremacy of Christ. He's supreme over creation. He's the supreme over revelation and salvation and resurrection and reconciliation.
Invitation to Respond to Christ
00:29:50
Speaker
That's why each Sunday we want to give an opportunity
00:29:53
Speaker
to any who don't know Christ to have that opportunity. Would you stand with me? I want to just ask God to guide our time of invitation because we just want to extend an invitation on behalf of Christ. We are his ambassadors, so we're just going to say if you would like to be in his kingdom, if you would like to follow Jesus, if you would like for Jesus to save you, to reconcile you to the Father, then we can help you with that.
00:30:20
Speaker
If we don't know all the answers, if we can't finish the conversation today, we can finish it on another day, but we could start it this day. We could set up an appointment for another day, but I'll be standing down front. We'll be singing this last song saying, come to the altar. It could be you'd say, I don't need to talk to a man. I just need a little time to talk to the father where you are, or maybe you want to come and just kneel at the altar, whatever you want to do.
00:30:45
Speaker
You come as we sing this song to the Lord, but I wanna pray first and ask that the Holy Spirit of God would be tugging hearts to him. Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for this passage that reminds us, who are we talking about when we talk about Jesus? I believe that you are so supreme. You are so preeminent that you're the master key. And so Lord, some may be just standing there at a locked door and they're so discouraged.
00:31:14
Speaker
but you're the key that can unlock the door. And so please, Lord, bless our time together today. If there are any who need to respond to Christ, I pray they do it this day. In Jesus' name, amen. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.