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Supreme Power (Ephesians 1:19-23)
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Supreme Power (Ephesians 1:19-23)
Ephesians: Growing in Christ
Sunday Message recorded 27 November 2022
by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Encouragement
00:00:06
Speaker
Well, good morning. It's good to see you. I hope you've enjoyed your weekend. Hope that video presentation and that song we sang right before it are sinking into your heart, your mind. That today you've come saying, God, I want you to speak to
Missionary Support Announcement
00:00:21
Speaker
me.
00:00:21
Speaker
I need to hear a fresh word from you today. I know that God is going to connect with you through his word, but also I hope that you'll be praying as we go through the month of December because we're going to be receiving an offering that goes 100% to support our missionaries, just like Jacob Tice, for example, in Osaka, Japan now. And if you're
00:00:45
Speaker
interested in going, he's inviting us to go sometime between now and next November when he returns to the United States for a while and then hopefully goes back. But do be praying about
Thanksgiving Reflection on Power
00:01:00
Speaker
that. I hope you will open God's Word to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1
00:01:07
Speaker
Part of our Thanksgiving experience included a power outage on Friday night. It didn't happen on Thanksgiving Day, thankfully. But then once it went out, I realized how I don't thank God enough for the power that we have on a daily basis at our house.
00:01:27
Speaker
And I also went to thank the linemen who restored the power. I said, I appreciate you sharing your weekend with us so that you could restore power to us. But maybe you're wondering, well, why can't our home that is wired with 120 volts withstand
00:01:48
Speaker
a lightning bolt. Do you know that lightning bolts typically run about 300 million volts? So it's like we're kind of overpowered by a lightning bolt. As a matter of fact, some of them sometimes can go up to 1 billion volts according to the weather channel. But anyway, I just wanted you to realize that
Ephesians 1: God's Supreme Power
00:02:10
Speaker
There's power, and that's what we're going to talk about today. Do you need strength? Do you need power? It's been a great long weekend, but we're about to start back. There's some more school. There's some more work. There's more things that need to be done. And so I believe that in Ephesians chapter 1, you're going to find the supreme power.
00:02:31
Speaker
I mean, one that goes beyond all the others. Just a little bit of a reminder, you know, from Ephesians 1, 19 through 23, Paul continues thanksgiving. He continues intercession and prayer for the church that's in Ephesus. He began this in chapter one, verse 15. You'll recall that he said in verse 16, I did not cease to give thanks for you.
00:02:57
Speaker
I give thanks for each one of you that's here today. But then it's like his Thanksgiving sort of transitions over into intercession when he says, remembering you in my prayers, that. But then what's interesting is, I said this last week, Dr. John MacArthur and other Bible scholars point out,
00:03:17
Speaker
It's like the things that He was praying for them, they were things that already were true. They were things that are already available to us in Christ. And so He's like continuing this mixture of thanksgiving and intercession. But the further down you go in this chapter 1, you're going to see that He moves even from thanksgiving and intercession into instruction.
00:03:43
Speaker
And so that's where I want us to be today is to see what kind of declarations does he make biblically about the supreme demonstration of God's power.
Supremacy of Jesus Christ
00:03:57
Speaker
I think you're going to see it because each pivotal affirmation, it's about the same thing, the supremacy of Jesus Christ. It's all about God's work, how God is, it's like he's flexing his muscles, God's displaying his great strength all through one person.
00:04:17
Speaker
the person of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're going to pick up actually maybe starting in verse 18 again just to get a running start at this, but we're going to focus on those last verses, verses 20 down through 23. But we're going to look at that together, but I want to ask you
00:04:37
Speaker
If you have something in your mind, when you think of the greatest display of power, what do you think of? I mean, something that's really powerful. Perhaps you think of a raging river. You know, I found out this week that the Niagara River, at a certain place above the falls, it picks up to 41 miles per hour in the Upper Rapids.
00:05:02
Speaker
I don't know if you've ever been on a river going 41 miles an hour, but I guarantee you it would kind of unnerve you if you were. But maybe you say, no, not a raging river. I'd be thinking about a strong earthquake.
00:05:16
Speaker
I remember in 2012, we went on a mission trip to Japan. That was our last one together. And we went to the Tohoku region. A year before, in 2011, Tohoku experienced a terrible earthquake. There was one out at sea. It sent in these tsunami waves. Do you know that there was a wave that went to Sendai that was 33 feet high?
00:05:39
Speaker
I guarantee if you saw a 33-foot wave, you probably wouldn't want to surf that dude or boogie board on that one. It might be a little bit scary. But then what about a destructive tornado? You know, this past week, if you were like me, I was amazed when I read that this is the 30-year anniversary of the six tornadoes that hit Harris County.
00:06:03
Speaker
I don't know if you remember back in 1992, but there were six tornadoes that hit Harris County and one of them hit Channel View. And I think it was clocked at about 194 miles an hour. You know, a tornado can go up to 300 miles an hour.
00:06:20
Speaker
But that concentrated power that is in a tornado is definitely strong. Maybe you'd say, oh, that's nothing compared to Harvey. I mean, hurricanes are way bigger. Perhaps that's what you're thinking of. You know, in 2017, the power of Harvey, when it just kept putting rain down here, you know, over 40 inches of rain.
00:06:43
Speaker
But all of these kind of things can definitely come to our minds when we think of great power. What do you think of in terms of men? You ever think of weightlifters? I couldn't believe it. I read where there was a guy named Julius Maddox, who last year, he did a raw bench press of 782 pounds.
00:07:04
Speaker
And then this year, there was a guy that was on staff at Liberty University named Bill Gillespie. And he, on an equip bench, did 1,129 pounds. But wait for it. He did it at 62. He's like my age. And so I'm working up to that. I just want you to know.
00:07:25
Speaker
I've got until February to catch up to him. So anyway, I'm going to be, you know, working out and doing stuff. But I mean, that's an incredible amount of strength and power. But what about the supreme amount of strength and power?
Resurrection and Ascension
00:07:40
Speaker
Where would you go to see that?
00:07:43
Speaker
I wanna encourage you to watch what unfolds here in God's word in Ephesians chapter one. I'm gonna start with verse 18 and read down through the end of the chapter. But I want you to keep your eyes on God's power as it is displayed. It's manifested through the person and the life of Jesus Christ. His authority is on display. Let's stand together in honor of God's timeless word and inerrant word
00:08:13
Speaker
and see what God will show us about the power that is available in Jesus Christ. In verse 18, he's praying and he says, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you. What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints? And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power?
00:08:43
Speaker
toward us who believe according to the working of his great might, that he worked, where did he do it? He worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named,
00:09:11
Speaker
not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all." Let's go to the Father in prayer. Oh Lord,
00:09:33
Speaker
Open our eyes once again that we can see through the assistance of your word, through the assistance of your Holy Spirit that inspired this word, that we can put our eyes back on Jesus. Oh Lord, sometimes we are so distracted by other things. We think a certain machine is powerful. We think a certain man is powerful.
00:09:57
Speaker
We think armies or politics or all these kind of things are powerful. They're nothing. There's nothing in this world to compare even all the forces of nature. No, they're all underneath the feet of one.
00:10:13
Speaker
the Son of God. And so, Lord, captivate us today. Encourage us today. Someone in this place may be feeling like, where can I find strength and power for my life? So, Lord, show them. Show them who your Son is. That's who we're here to lift up and glorify today. May all eyes be on your Son.
00:10:35
Speaker
May our conversation throughout this afternoon be, wow, I never realized who Jesus really is. It's in Jesus' name we pray, the name that's above every name. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated.
00:10:50
Speaker
I wanna present to you four articles of evidence that I feel will demonstrate and prove the supreme demonstration of God's power as it is revealed in the life, in the authority, the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. The first article of evidence that I would present would be the resurrection, the resurrection of Christ. You know, in the Old Testament,
00:11:16
Speaker
What did they use to measure greatness? What did they use to measure power? I mean real power. Usually, the psalmist and all these different prophets, they would point back to creation. But in the New Testament, what did they use to measure greatness and to measure power?
00:11:37
Speaker
They always point to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Think about the eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Christ. You know, it says here in verse 20 that he worked in Christ. We're talking about the display of God's immeasurable power, right? Well, here's where, number one, where he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead. And we're going to push the pause button right there.
00:12:04
Speaker
Some in this room may be saying, I have trouble with that. I've never seen anybody raised from the dead. Neither have I. Neither is anyone else. Jesus is unique. How else would God prove to us that He is God's Son? How else would God show us and demonstrate to us that all authority is His? The only way He could think was, I'm going to raise Him from the dead.
00:12:30
Speaker
All of the cost of our sins, they were all placed upon Jesus on the cross. And so all of our sins were laid upon him. He died to take the punishment that our sins deserved.
00:12:44
Speaker
But you know what? He hadn't done anything wrong. And that's why the father, three days later, said, you know what? I'm going to raise my son from the dead. And he did it. As a matter of fact, you're not asked to just take a blind leap into the dark, right? Let's just remember, let's review when he raised Jesus from the dead. Did anybody else see him?
00:13:08
Speaker
after he died on the cross, after he was placed in the tomb, after he rose from the dead. Oh yes. Let me just remind you of some of those people. There was Mary Magdalene. There were women who went to the tomb to put the spices on his body and so forth.
00:13:26
Speaker
They found that he wasn't there. The tomb was empty. The angels told him, he's not here. He's alive. You remember Peter? He saw him. Two on the Emmaus Road, they saw him. There was a gathering of the 10 apostles apart from Thomas. Thomas wasn't there. And Jesus just appeared in the room. And so it's amazing that all 10 of these guys, they all saw him. And then Thomas said, I'm not gonna believe it, even if all 10 of you tell me.
00:13:56
Speaker
And so then Jesus appears another time to those same 10 plus Thomas. And he says, Thomas, I want you to come here. I want you to look into my hands and I want you to see that there are wounds there. I want you to see my feet. And so Thomas falls down and he says, you are my God. He knew it was real.
00:14:17
Speaker
But then you think about the seven disciples who were fishing. You think about over 500 that were gathered according to 1 Corinthians 15. It says 500 were gathered together. You know, one thing that people say is, well, maybe somebody just dreamed this. Maybe it was more of a vision.
00:14:35
Speaker
It couldn't be a vision if 500 people see it at the same time. It couldn't be a dream if 10 or 11 see it at the same time, or seven. What about his half-brother James? He didn't believe. His half-brother James had a hard time believing that Jesus, his half-brother, was really the Messiah.
00:14:58
Speaker
But after he saw him alive, James, the half brother of Jesus, he got on fire. And he began to tell the people, look, he's real. This is the truth. And he began to tell people, do you know that there were 11 of the disciples gathered there whenever he ascended back to the Father? I mean, he just left them and went up into the heavens. And so it's like, this is nothing for the Son of God.
00:15:25
Speaker
Paul is on the road to Damascus, and he encounters Jesus, and he has to get down, and he was trying to kill Christians and so forth, and he humbles himself down. John the Apostle was later persecuted. He was exiled out on the island of Patmos, and he sees Jesus on that island. I'm telling you.
00:15:48
Speaker
He was raised. He was raised and he's alive. He's alive today. As a matter of fact, Acts 1.3 starts out by saying there's these infallible proofs. And if you read through the infallible proofs, you'll find out, wait a minute, there were
00:16:07
Speaker
reliable eyewitnesses. You know, these men and women that said they saw him, these handed us the greatest moral system ever given to man. So they were reliable. There were multiple eyewitness accounts. Why should it be written down?
00:16:23
Speaker
It should be written down because all of them died eventually. They all went to heaven, that trusted Christ. And so, how would we know in 2022, sitting over here in America, how would we even know that this really happened? All of those who saw Him, they were inspired by the Holy Spirit to write it down so that we would know this really took place.
00:16:46
Speaker
He was with them over a period of 40 days. See, this didn't just happen one night in someone's head, in someone's dream, in someone's room. This happened 40 days in a row. People kept seeing him over and over.
00:17:03
Speaker
It happened in various locations, but they were specific locations. There were places where people back then could have said, well, let's go see. Let's go see if that tomb is really empty. Well, he appeared to them. Where did he appear to them? On the Mount of Olives. Where did he appear to them? In this room, the upper room, all these different things.
00:17:25
Speaker
It's the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. It's exactly what they said was gonna happen, hundreds of years before. Jesus even predicted, in three days I'm gonna ride. You know, Jesus said three days, 21 different times. He kept telling his disciples, but they couldn't wrap their mind around it.
00:17:45
Speaker
Why would the Messiah suffer in the first place? Why would He die in the second place? And what do you mean He's going to be raised on the third day? They couldn't get this. It was really a difficult thing. But all I'm trying to tell you is that the Word of God
00:18:01
Speaker
says very explicitly right here for us. He raised him. God was displaying his strength.
Exaltation of Christ and Prophecy
00:18:10
Speaker
That's what he's doing. He's trying to show you and me how much power did he display in Christ.
00:18:18
Speaker
He displayed it in a way that no one in all of history has ever done. He raised his son from the dead. He did not deserve death. The wages of sin is death. Jesus hadn't sinned. His son deserved life. So he raised him from the dead. So definitely I would say one article of evidence to consider is the resurrection and all of these accounts, all of these eyewitnesses, people who saw him, but the second article,
00:18:47
Speaker
that would demonstrate God's powers, not just the resurrection of Christ, but how about that ascension of Christ, the ascension of Christ? You know, Luke 24, verses 50 and 51, in Acts chapter one, verses nine through 11.
00:19:03
Speaker
They describe what we mean by the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he went up into the clouds and he never stopped, it's like he went out of sight. Have you ever seen anybody do that? I'm not talking about Iron Man and stuff like that. That's make believe, you know? You know that, right? I'm talking about something that really happened. I'm talking about somebody that's genuine and real. You see, that displays who he is.
00:19:31
Speaker
Have you ever known anybody to defy gravity just in their own human body?
00:19:36
Speaker
You know, I mean, there was a guy that was six foot who could dunk the ball when I was in high school. He played, unfortunately, for our rival team in Humboldt, Tennessee. But every time we played ball, it was like seeing an amazing thing when he would jump up there at six foot tall. His feet just seemed like they were so far off the ground when he would just do a slam dunk. And I was thinking, how does Junior Reed even do this kind of thing?
00:20:02
Speaker
Well, I couldn't do that, but here's the thing. Who do you know that's ever been raised from the dead? Nobody. Who do you know that's ever just ascended up into the heavens and just kept on going? Well, only Jesus. And that's why I'm saying, anyone that can do this, who did that?
00:20:24
Speaker
Well, yes, Jesus did that, but I want you to see something that's here in the text. Let's catch up again, verse 19, going into verse 20.
00:20:33
Speaker
And I'll show you once again what's happening. God's showing us His power. God's showing us God's power, the Father's power, through His Son. And verse 19 says, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might, this is the Father's great might,
00:20:54
Speaker
that he worked in Christ. What did he do in Christ so that we would know how powerful the Father is? Well, he raised Jesus from the dead. That's the first thing. Second thing, he seated him, seated him. So this is action that someone else is doing to Jesus. The Father seated Jesus at his right hand in the heavenly places. He seated him.
00:21:23
Speaker
You know, in Psalm 110, if you're quick on the draw, you can go there. I just wanna read you a verse that is probably, I think it's the most quoted Psalm in the whole New Testament. If you were to ask the apostles and all of those that the Holy Spirit used to inspire the New Testament, hey, what's your favorite passage in the Old Testament? You know what I think they would say? Psalm 110.
00:21:49
Speaker
They say Psalm 110 because it's quoted so often in the New Testament. I think it's like 21 times alone, verse one. The verse I'm about to read you, it's mentioned 21 times in the New Testament. But here's what it says. The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.
00:22:16
Speaker
Wait a minute, we got one Lord saying to another Lord, you sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. You see, doesn't it just make sense? This is referring to the Lord God, the Almighty, the Father is speaking to his son, the Lord Jesus Christ and saying, you sit at my right hand
00:22:37
Speaker
until your enemies are all underneath your feet and I'll make them your footstool. So I'm just amazed at how this is now the fulfillment of this. So don't think that this was just kind of a random shot. This was prophesied way back in the Psalms that this was going to happen. The ascension of Jesus Christ and the Father says, son, welcome back home.
00:23:03
Speaker
be seated right here at my right hand." Of course, the right hand was like the hand of power. Now, I'm not talking smack toward any of you left-handed guys, so don't come up to me and say, I think lefties have it going on. You know, OK. But the father said, I seated him at my right hand. It's the hand of power, the hand of authority to seat someone at the right hand.
00:23:25
Speaker
And so I think that his posture portrays the fulfillment of his work. What did he say to him again? He said, be seated. Sit right here, son. I have a place right here for you. Please be seated. Why would he sit down?
00:23:44
Speaker
because the work was finished, because on the cross, he said, it is finished. He did everything to change your life and to change my life. He did everything that was necessary to transform our lives and to make us so full of meaning and purpose and direction, to have strength where we can say no to sin. It's all available to us because of what he did, because of his death on the cross, because of his resurrection.
00:24:13
Speaker
And I'm just so thankful to the Lord that we have this biblical portrait right here of His posture. And what is His posture? He's seated. Why is He sitting? He's seated because He's finished the work. The other thing is His position conveys the favor of the Father.
00:24:34
Speaker
His position conveys the favor of the father. It says not only was he seated, but he said he seated him at his right hand. Once again, the hand of authority, the right hand was the hand of power, of position, and so forth. How do we know that the father was pleased with the death of his son? Because the father said he does not deserve death.
00:25:00
Speaker
I'm going to raise him up to life. That's how we know that the father, we know from what the father said one time, he just broke loose and said, this is my son. He is well pleasing in my sight. But just think about the position and the posture. But how about the place? You know, when it says he ascended back to the father,
00:25:22
Speaker
The place is so amazing. It says that it's in the heavenly places seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. Five times in the book of Ephesians we read this same
00:25:37
Speaker
phrase of heavenly places, heavenly places. You see, there's a spiritual realm. We want everything to be in the earthly realm, but there's a heavenly realm. There are spiritual dimensions that are out there, and so that is the dimension in which he ascended back to the Father. Think about gravity.
00:25:59
Speaker
Think about gravity right now and how God placed gravity on this earth for a reason. You know why? Because if there was no gravity, you wouldn't keep your feet on the ground. I wouldn't either. I mean, He holds us to the ground because He's given gravity. He keeps the earth circling around the sun. If there was no gravity, the earth would just fly out into deep space.
00:26:24
Speaker
No, that's gravity that holds that in there. What about when it rains? Why doesn't the rain just float up? It falls down. That's also gravity. So much God uses this whole idea, this whole principle of gravity.
00:26:42
Speaker
It causes the ocean tides and so many things. And yet you say to the scientists, could you just explain to me what exactly gravity is? And it's like impossible to, you know what it is, but it's impossible to tell what it is. Because God, this is something only God could do. It's His power. And yet He can defy gravity and go up.
00:27:06
Speaker
into the heavenly places to be seated at the right hand of the Father. I'm telling you, that is a demonstration of God's power.
00:27:15
Speaker
I wanna introduce you to a third article of evidence, the exaltation of Christ, the exaltation of Christ. Another thing it says that the father did was he put all things under his feet. What does it mean by all things? Well, let's read, it says in verse 20, seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
00:27:40
Speaker
Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet
00:27:55
Speaker
Who put all things under Jesus' feet? The Father put all things under His feet. Because the Father has that, He's the Lord God the Almighty. There's nothing too difficult for Him. And so when He wants to exalt Christ, He can exalt Him. And that's exactly what He has done. That's what He has already done. And so we just don't know it yet. I want you to look at something in chapter three.
00:28:22
Speaker
How do they measure this great power, this great exaltation? If you were to look at this whole thing of God's power, we'll be right back to chapter one. But I just wanted to show you how biblically, how they talk about things being measured. And it says in chapter three and verse 16, that according to the riches of his glory,
00:28:47
Speaker
He may grant you to be strengthened with power. So we're still on the topic of power, right? But we're in chapter three, verse 16. Through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength. So once again, strength to comprehend with all the saints, what is the bread?
00:29:13
Speaker
and the length and the height and the depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. This whole idea is really captivating him. Is it captivating you? Are you captivated by the tremendous supreme power displayed in the person of Christ? Now I want you to go back and I want to use those same words, the height, the breadth, the length, the depth.
00:29:43
Speaker
In chapter one, it doesn't say those words, but I want you to notice them as they're mentioned in different other terminology, but it's there. For example, what would the height of Christ's power be? It says far above, far above. Let me say it one more time. Far above.
00:30:06
Speaker
all rule and authority and power and dominion. Here comes again the word above, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. So the idea is His power is so high, it's far above, so that's the height of His power. What's the breadth of His power?
00:30:29
Speaker
Does this power say, is it limited in any way? Well, no, it says that every name that is named, see, there's none equal to the Son of God. There's none equal to Him on this earth. Who could you think of that would have the same incredible power and authority as the Lord Jesus Christ? Who's risen from the dead? Who else has ascended up to the Father? Who else has been exalted far above all other rule and authority?
00:30:57
Speaker
Only Jesus. Only Jesus. And so I'm thinking, there's the breadth of His power. What about the length of His power? How long? How long will He be Lord? How long will He be King? How long will He have this authority? Well, let's see what the text tells us. Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, here it comes. Not only in this age.
00:31:25
Speaker
but also in the one to come. So not only in this time in which we live now, but in the one to come. You see the length of his power. It's unsearchable. That's why he uses the word a little bit earlier in our text. It's immeasurable. How can you measure power like that? That's not just good today. It'll be good forever and ever and ever.
00:31:51
Speaker
I'm just thinking, thank you God, think about the depth of His power. What's the depth? How far does it go? Who all is down there? Well, He says, until all things are underneath your feet. Everything. So where is it all headed?
00:32:08
Speaker
I'm telling you, it's all headed in one direction. I want to read to you a passage from the Old Testament before we move to this final point. It's found in an unusual book, Zechariah. So if you are new to the Bible, if you just want to go back to the Old Testament and go to the last book, which is Malachi, and then hit reverse, go one book before Malachi, Zechariah chapter 14, verses one through nine. Where are we headed?
00:32:38
Speaker
Where is humanity? Where is history? Where is everything going? I'll tell you where it's going. This verse tells us exactly where it's going. There's going to be a global effort among all the nations to kind of gather together. They're going to go against Israel, but something's going to happen.
00:32:56
Speaker
Jesus is going to come back. And when he comes back, what are we going to see in verse 9 of Zechariah 14 that happens? Let me start with verse 1 so you get the context. You'll see the flow of it. Behold, a day is coming for the Lord.
00:33:13
Speaker
when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken, and the houses plundered, and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile. But the rest of the people shall not be cut off from that day, from the city. Then the Lord will go out and fight.
00:33:37
Speaker
against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day, his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the mountain shall move northward, the other half southward.
00:34:02
Speaker
And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Uzzal. You shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come and all the holy ones with him. On that day there shall be no light, cold or frost, and there shall be a unique day.
00:34:27
Speaker
which is known to the Lord neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light. On that day, living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem. Half of them to the Eastern sea, half of them to the Western sea, it shall continue in summer as in winter." And then verse nine, and the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day, the Lord will be one in his name one.
Christ's Role in the Church
00:34:57
Speaker
That's where it's going. That's where it's going. You see, right now, by faith, we have to trust that he's exalted. He's exalted, he's king. But someday you'll see it visibly with our eye. If we're still here, we'll see it here. But if you die and go to be with him, you'll be coming back with him when he returns on this. One final appointment is the appointment of Christ.
00:35:21
Speaker
as the head of the church. Verses 19 through 23, it says he gave him as head over all things to the church. I know that some people think, well, what if I have a personal relationship with Christ? I don't need others. I don't need a church. Well, wait a minute. If a church is a biblical concept,
00:35:43
Speaker
In the New Testament, the word church is mentioned not once, not twice, not three times. Get this, church is mentioned 115 times. 115 times. I'm not talking about religion, I'm talking about church. Church is the people.
00:36:01
Speaker
We are the church. God redeems us. And what he says in his word over and over again is he's head. He's head over all things to the church. So Christ is first when it comes to everything in the church. You ought to say, I want to do what you want me to do, Lord. You're first. The other thing is Christ desires fellowship, fellowship in the church. You know, I thought it was interesting how it says,
00:36:30
Speaker
He gave him his head over all things to the church, which is his body. You know what that says? That we have a very close relationship with Jesus. He wants us to fellowship with him. He wants us to fellowship with one another, but I just thought, there's the fellowship that he speaks of. And then Christ is the fullness of the church. He feels all in all. You see, that's the part that still
00:37:00
Speaker
I don't know, it's like there's a song about Phyllis Craig and Dean that used to sing called Your Grace Still Amazes Me. I tell you what also still amazes me is where God chooses to do his work, where God exerts and displays the power today. You know where he does it? Look at Ephesians 3, verses 20 and 21. You might not believe this.
00:37:26
Speaker
because we've been talking, remember when we read that prayer, there's a lot about strength there, a lot about power there, but then he wraps it up in 20 and 21 by saying this, now to him who's able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think. So whatever you can think of, whatever you can ask, whatever you can talk about, I guarantee you God's got way more power, way more strength than that, but where is he going to do that? According to the power at work,
00:37:57
Speaker
within us, within us. To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever, amen. And I just thought, wow, God wants to use us to be such a witness to the outside world.
00:38:15
Speaker
You know, God's supreme demonstration of his power, no doubt was the resurrection. No doubt it was the exaltation, the ascension, the exaltation. No doubt it was the appointment. But you know what, I believe, I believe with all my heart that he delights to display his power through the testimonies of people like you and me.
00:38:36
Speaker
People like us. He delights to just show his power. You know, have you ever seen that Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham, have you ever seen how he wrote a book about his life, his testimony, and he calls it Rebel with a Cause? And he's very transparent. He's very real. And what he says in the book is, you know what? I used to be so broken. I used to be a rebel against God and a rebel against my dad, a rebel against any kind of authority.
00:39:05
Speaker
But now he says, you know who I am now? In Christ, I'm a rebel with a cause because now I'm not going in the direction of the culture. I'm not going in the direction what other people want me to go in. I'm going in the direction of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, what is God's favorite song? You know, a few years ago, Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir used to sing this song. I think they nailed it, what God's favorite song is. Here's the lyrics of the song.
00:39:35
Speaker
But his favorite song of all is the song of the redeemed. When lost sinners, now made clean, lift their voices loud and strong. When those purchased by his blood, lift to him a song of love. Nothing more he'd rather hear, nor so pleasing to his ear as his favorite song of all.
00:40:02
Speaker
You know what? That's what we're supposed to be about here on this earth, to glorify Him. We ought to be saying, you know what the power of my life is? It's not my personality. It's not all my gifts. It's not my strengths. It's not my training. It's not my job. It's not my position. The power of my life is my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Just like Franklin Graham, He is my cause. I just want to ask you, is your life like my house this weekend?
00:40:34
Speaker
This weekend, my house was powerless. I have a lot of gadgets in my house. Nothing worked without the power. My house was dark in there. We were going around with flashlights and went off at 10 o'clock at night, just before the news. And I thought, oh my goodness, I'm not gonna know what happened in the world today. It was so difficult. Everything took longer. When I first got up, it's like, oh no, it's still off. I gotta get an ice chest. We gotta start getting stuff out of the refrigerator.
00:41:04
Speaker
What about you and your life? I'm talking about electricity, but now I'm talking about you and your life. Are you plugged in? Plug in and there'll be light.
00:41:17
Speaker
Plug in, there'll be joy. Plug in, and there'll be power. Let the supreme power source of Jesus Christ, let him power up your life. I guarantee you'll never be the same. You'll never be the same. Let's stand together. I wanna give an opportunity for any that would like to trust him today, we can begin a conversation about it. All it takes is for you to say, you know what, Lord, I've blown it. I've been like Franklin Graham. I've been a rebel.
00:41:47
Speaker
but I'm tired of rebelling against you, God, I'm ready to come in your direction. I want to live for you. I want to repent of my sins. I want to put my trust in Christ. I want to surrender to you. That's what this invitation is gonna be about. I'll be standing down here to talk with you, to pray with you, but you come, let's pray and then we'll sing this last song together. Lord, thank you. Thank you so much.
00:42:13
Speaker
Someone's so powerful, you could have just stamped us out. You could have just caused us to be done, but you didn't. Oh Lord, you chose to display your son's great power by giving him to down across for our sins, all of our rebellion, our resistance. And then you raised him from the dead. And now you offer to us as the redeemed, you offer us strength.
00:42:43
Speaker
through Him. What a wonderful God you are. You are so incredible. Lord, we just, we can't sing enough of your praises, but there may be some here and they've never trusted you, not yet. But I pray today would be their day that they would say, that's what I need. I needs God's power. My power is failing me. I need His power in my life. So let this be about you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
00:43:15
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.