Evangel Community Church

Evangel Community Church "The Church with a Heart"

06/21/2026

The Glory of Scars

Why would a man rejoice in suffering? In Colossians 1:24-25, the Apostle Paul reveals The Glory of the Scars—how God use...
06/20/2026

Why would a man rejoice in suffering? In Colossians 1:24-25, the Apostle Paul reveals The Glory of the Scars—how God uses trials, sacrifice, and even persecution to bring us closer to Christ and advance His Kingdom. Join us this Sunday as we discover why suffering for Jesus is never wasted and how our scars can become a testimony of God's grace and power.

Suffering for Christ is not a waste... it's a witness.

"The Glory of the Scars"
June 21, 2026●Colossians 1:24-25●Pastor Jeff Heidt

24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:
25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God… Colossians 1

INTRODUCTION
• Crisis: false teachers undermining the deity and sufficiency of Christ
• Paul's response (vv. 15–19): Christ's supremacy — image of the invisible God, prōtotokos, all things created by/through/for Him
• Paul's response (vv. 20–23): Christ's reconciling work — presents us "holy and blameless and above reproach" (v. 22)
• Transition word: "minister" (end of v. 23) launches Paul into describing his own ministry

#1. THE SOURCE OF THE MINISTRY
Text: Col. 1:23, 25 — "of which I Paul am made a minister... according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you"
• Key emphasis: "I was made" - not chosen, not applied for, not self-styled
• Paul's former life: persecutor and murderer of Christians; held the coats at Stephen's stoning
• Acts 26:13–18 — the Damascus road encounter
o Light brighter than the sun; voice says "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" "It is hard for you to kick against the goads"
o Christ's commission: "to make you a minister"
• Theological point: ministry begins with divine call, not human ambition — God chooses, appoints, equips, sustains
• Word study: diakonos (minister) = servant, table-waiter — one of the lowest Greek terms
• Word study: oikonomian (stewardship) = oikos (house) + nomos (rule) — managing another's estate
• 1 Corinthians 4:1–2 — "stewards of the mysteries of God... required that they be found faithful"
• 1 Corinthians 12 — Spirit distributes gifts "individually as He wills"
• 1 Peter 4:10 — "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace"
→ FATHER'S DAY APPLICATION: THE SOURCE IS GOD
• Father as priest of the home — predates tabernacle & temple,
• Abraham built altars; Job rose early to sacrifice for his children
• Core claim: fatherhood is divine appointment, not accident — "This child is Mine — pastor them"
• Pulpit reframed: kitchen table, bedtime, the school-run
• Warning: men abandoning the altar, outsourcing spiritual formation to wives/church
• Ephesians 6:4 — "bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord" (Gk. ektrephō — nourish to maturity, a farming word)
• Deuteronomy 6:6–7 - teach diligently; sitting, walking, lying down, rising
• Call to action: today as personal Damascus road - "Rise. Stand on your feet."

#2. THE SPIRIT OF THE MINISTRY
Text: Col. 1:24 — "Now I rejoice..."
• Core declaration: the spirit of ministry is joy — not complaint, bitterness, or resignation
• Diagnosis: many Christians have lost joy without losing faith
• Context check: Paul wrote this imprisoned, chained to a Roman soldier — joy detached from circumstance
• Defining joy: "the confidence that God is still in control," not the absence of trouble
• Pastoral correction: lost joy = lost connection, not bad circumstances — diagnosis is communion, not complaint
• Guardrails of joy: humility and trust
• Thieves of joy: worry, bitterness, pride, comparison, unbelief
• Hebrews 12:2 — Jesus "who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame"
• Witness value: the world notices worship in the storm, praise in the valley
→ FATHER'S DAY APPLICATION: THE SPIRIT IS JOY
• Diagnostic question: What spirit walks through your front door?
• Children form their theology of God by watching the father, not just hearing him
• Proverbs 17:22 — "A joyful heart is good medicine"
• Practical pictures: praying with laughter, worshiping in the car, steady confidence in crisis
• Clarified definition: not performance, not toxic positivity — God-given confidence that He is enough
• Closing charge: children need a father's peace, not just his provision

#3. THE SUFFERING OF THE MINISTRY
Text: Col. 1:24 (full verse) — "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church."
• Doctrinal clarification needed: addressing the Roman Catholic purgatory/treasury-of-merit false teaching
• What Paul is not saying: Christ's atonement was insufficient or needs supplementing
• Anchor point: vv. 20–22 already declared believers "holy and blameless and above reproach"
• Word study: thlipsis (afflictions) — never used of Christ's redemptive cross-suffering elsewhere in NT
• What Paul is saying: the world's unsatisfied hatred of Christ, post-ascension, falls on the Church instead
• Pattern: Stephen stoned, Peter imprisoned, James executed, Paul martyred — the world attacking Christ through His people
• Paul's posture: "I rejoice in them" — not tolerate, not survive, but rejoice
• Reframed question: not "Why am I going through this" but "How can You be glorified through this"
Five reasons suffering becomes joy:
1. Nearer to Christ — Philippians 3:10 ("that I may know him... and may share his sufferings"); John 15:20; 2 Timothy 3:12; Hebrews 13:13
2. Assurance of salvation — 1 Peter 4:14 ("the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you")
3. Future reward — Romans 8:17–18; 2 Corinthians 4:17 ("eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison")
4. Salvation of others — Philippians 2:17 ("poured out as a drink offering")
5. Frustrates Satan — Acts 9:16 ("how much he must suffer for the sake of my name")
• Paul's personal cost: 2 Corinthians 11 — 39 lashes ×5, rods ×3, stoning, robbers, shipwrecks, exposure
• 2 Timothy echo (implied via endurance theme) — "I endure everything for the sake of the elect"
• Acts 20:24 — "I do not account my life of any value... if only I may finish my course"
• Closing image: finished with his head on the executioner's block — and finished with joy!
→ FATHER'S DAY APPLICATION: THE SUFFERING FOR CHRIST
• Cultural lie named and rejected: a good father's life is comfortable
• Biblical picture: the father who absorbs blows on behalf of his family
• Concrete suffering list: sick child's sleepless nights, heartbreaking teenage choices, necessary "no's," financial sacrifice
• Job 1:5 — rising early, consecrating his children, continual intercession
• Framed as: "the suffering of intercession"
• Charge: let your children see you suffer well — cry and still pray, hit a wall and still return to the Word
• Inheritance language: A faith that does not break is the greatest gift a father can leave.
• Closing line: "every sleepless night you spend interceding... God sees it. Not one bit is wasted."

#4. THE SCOPE OF THE MINISTRY
Text: Col. 1:25 — "to make the word of God fully known"
• Definition: full expression of the Word to the people God assigned — not fame, numbers, or platform
• 2 Timothy 4:7 — "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith"
• Counter-cultural principle: Paul's three missionary journeys stayed in one small Mediterranean region — ‘depth over breadth’
• Christ’s parallel: Jesus never left Israel; concentrated in Galilee and Judea; twelve men, three years
• Core principle: "it is not how broad the ministry is — it's how deep"
• Jesus' self-limitations:
o John 5:30 - "I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me"
o Timing: "his hour had not yet come" recurring gospel of John theme
o Targeted people, focused message, limited discipleship investment
• Romans 15:20 — "I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named"
• Redefinition of success: faithfulness to assignment, not size of reach
→ FATHER'S DAY APPLICATION: THE SCOPE FULFILLING THE WORD
• Direct application: "the whole Word of God, to the whole family God has given you"
• Lowered bar, raised standard: no seminary degree needed — faithfulness is the requirement
• Deuteronomy 6 (revisited) — sitting, walking, lying down, rising — whole-life saturation, not a program
• Practical pictures: dinner-table conversation, the school-drop-off prayer, "how is your heart?", hands of blessing
• Eternal stakes: influence reverberates to grandchildren, great-grandchildren never met this side of heaven
• Warning against the trap: busy everywhere except home — "children know their schedule but not their soul"
• Call to imitate Jesus' focus: go deep with those under your roof; pray for them "continually," just like Job
• Eschatological reframe: the future account is about stewardship, not career or reputation
• Aspirational closing line: "I made the Word of God fully known — at the dinner table, at the bedside, in the car, in the crisis."

CONCLUSION
• Four pillars restated:
o Source — God; calling, not choice
o Spirit — joy; unshakeable, not circumstantial
o Suffering — accepted/embraced; proof of belonging to Christ
o Scope - the whole Word, to the people given to you; depth over breadth
• Final charge to fathers: this is your calling, not just church attendance — the altar is built at home

TODAY’S REFLECTIONS:
1) If your children become exactly like you spiritually, will they become passionate followers of Jesus Christ?
2) When your family faces a crisis, are you the first one to panic—or the first one to pray?
3) Are you merely providing for your family, or are you leading them toward Christ?
4) If the Lord called you home tonight, what unfinished spiritual work would remain in your family?
5) When you stand before Jesus Christ, will you be able to say, "Lord, I was faithful with the wife, the children, and the home You entrusted to me?"

06/14/2026

Reconciled to God

Have you ever wondered how a holy God can welcome sinful people into His presence? Join us this Sunday as we explore the...
06/13/2026

Have you ever wondered how a holy God can welcome sinful people into His presence? Join us this Sunday as we explore the powerful truth of Colossians 1:20-23 and discover how Jesus Christ made peace through the blood of His cross. This message, "Reconciled to God," will remind you that no one is beyond God's grace and that through Christ we can be fully and forever restored to Him. Come experience the hope, peace, and joy of reconciliation!

"Reconciled to God"
June 14, 2026●Colossians 1:20-23●Pastor Jeff Heidt

20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. 21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. Colossians 1

INTRODUCTION
• The familiar Greek term: katallassō — to reconcile, change, exchange; used only twice for God-man reconciliation: Romans 5:10 and 2 Corinthians 5
• Paul's term in Colossians: apokatallassō — intensified; thoroughly, completely, totally reconciled
• The false teachers of Colossae taught a ladder of spirits descending from God Christ was just one rung. Paul's answer: one cross, one Christ, complete reconciliation
The Five Terms That Summarize Salvation:
1. Justification — the accused declared righteous
2. Redemption — the slave granted freedom by ransom
3. Forgiveness — the debtor's debt paid and forgotten
4. Reconciliation — the enemy made a friend
5. Sonship — the stranger made a son
• Forgiveness deals with the fruit; Redemption deals with the root
• Reconciliation deals with our condition; Sonship deals with our position
• All together: Justification
I. THE PLAN OF RECONCILIATION (Colossians 1:20–21)
Key Phrase: "To reconcile all things unto Himself — by Him"
• "By Him" brackets the phrase on both sides — Christ is the sole agent; God reconciles all things to Himself through Christ alone
A. The Scope: All Things
• God created everything good; man and woman walked in the garden in the presence of the Lord — perfect harmony
• Sin entered; the entire universe was dragged into the curse — not just man
• Even the heavens are polluted — occupied by Satan and demonic forces
• The whole cosmos must be restored - hence: a new heaven and a new earth
• Romans 8:19–22 — "The whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now" - waiting for the revealing of the sons of God
• Ephesians 1:10 — God will "unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth"
B. The Restoration: What It Will Look Like
• Isaiah 11:6 — "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb... a little child shall lead them" — animal kingdom restored
• Isaiah 65:25 — "The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox"
• Isaiah 30:26 — "The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold" — cosmic transformation
• Isaiah 4:5 — cloud by day, flaming fire by night over every dwelling Zion
• Isaiah 60:19 — "The LORD will be your everlasting light" — sun and moon pass away; God lights eternity
C. The Limits: Not Universalism
• Revelation 19:20 — beast and false prophet cast alive into the lake of fire
• Revelation 20:10 – devil cast into the lake of fire, tormented forever & ever
• Revelation 20:15 — "If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire"
• "All things" means all things for whom reconciliation is possible
• Colossians 2:15 — Christ "disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame"
• Romans 16:20 — "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet"
• Philippians 2:10–11 — "Every knee should bow... and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord" — willingly or unwillingly
• 2 Corinthians 5:19 — "In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself" — provision is universal; only those who come to Christ can claim it
D. The Proof: The Colossians Themselves
• Colossians 1:21 — "You that were once alienated and enemies in your mind because of wicked works, yet now has He reconciled"
• Living, breathing, reconciled people — proof that Christ alone is sufficient
• Why were they alienated? Not ignorance — sin
• Ephesians 4:18 — "Alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of heart"
• Romans 1 — they knew God but refused to honor Him; loved sin more than Creator; this hostility produced alienation
• Isaiah 59:2 — "Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God; your sins have hidden his face from you"
• Sin creates hostility; hostility creates alienation; deal with the alienation — you must deal with the sin
II. THE MEANS OF RECONCILIATION (Colossians 1:20, 22)
Two Phrases That Belong Together:
1. "Through the blood of His cross" v.20 2. "In the body of his flesh through death" v. 22
A. The Blood: The Language of Sacrifice
• Blood is the biblical metaphor for sacrifice — not a statement that Jesus bled to death
• Every altar, every lamb, every drop of blood in Israel's sacrificial system pointed forward to one final Lamb
• 1 Peter 1:19 — ransomed "with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot"
• Hebrews 13:11–12 — as the bodies of sacrificial animals were burned outside the camp, "Jesus also suffered outside the gate" — the sacrificial comparison is exact
• Jesus did not bleed to death — He willed Himself dead
• John 10:18 — "No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord"
• The soldier pierced His side - blood & water came out; blood still in His body
• "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" — He died as fulfillment of every Old Testament sacrifice
B. The Body: The Language of Substitution
• Colossians 1:22 – "in the body of his flesh through death" – precise & exact
• He did not die as an angel or a spirit — He died as a man for men
• Romans 8:3 - "By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh" - sin condemned in the very place it lived
• Perfect substitute — His death as man, for man, in man's place
C. The Double Transaction of the Cross
• Two problems required two solutions:
o Your problem - a sinful nature, hostile toward God, alienated by wickedness
o God's problem — His holy wrath against sin is not a mood; it is His character; iniquity cannot enter His presence
• Both were solved at the cross:
o God poured His wrath on Christ — His wrath was satisfied
o 2 Corinthians 5:21 — "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God"
o Christ rose and flooded into His people — they were transformed
o 2 Corinthians 5:17 — "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come"
• One side: God makes us new creatures; other side: God puts our sin on Christ and appeases His wrath — both sides together are reconciliation
D. Why You Cannot Save Yourself — Romans 5:6–10
• No strength - "while we were weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly"
• No merit - you are ungodly
• No righteousness - "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us"
• No access - "while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son"
• You cannot negotiate peace with a God you've been at war with - He made the peace
III. THE AIM OF RECONCILIATION (Colossians 1:22b)
The Goal: "To present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him"
• The word present — the language of priest before altar, best man leading bride to groom, father walking daughter down the aisle
• God wanted to present you before Himself — fit, clean, whole, worthy to stand in His presence
Three Words — Three Dimensions:
• Holy: cleansed from all sin, set apart for God; speaks of your relationship to God
• Blameless: faultless, without defect, not a spot; speaks of who you are in yourself
• Above reproach — no accusation holds; Satan is the accuser of the brethren — not one charge against you will be sustained
A. Positional Reality — Right Now
• "Before him" - in His sight, you are in Christ; God sees His Son wrapped around you
• Romans 8:1 - "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"
• Rom. 8:33 - "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies"
• The highest court in the universe has spoken — the case is closed forever
B. Future Reality — What Is Coming
• What you are positionally will become what you are practically
• Ephesians 5:27 — Christ gave Himself for the church "that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish"
• He is conforming your reality to His verdict — building in you what He has already declared about you
• 2 Corinthians 11 - Paul desired to present the church as a chaste virgin to Christ
• Someday: holy, blameless, above reproach — in practice what we are now in position
IV. THE EVIDENCE OF RECONCILIATION (Colossians 1:23)
The One Word: Continue
• "If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel"
• The evidence of genuine reconciliation is a life that keeps going — grounded, settled, unmoved
A. What Continuing Looks Like
• Luke 8:13 — seed on rock: "believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away" — never truly saved; the soil was wrong
• John 15 — true branches abide; Judas branches are there awhile and gone
• John 8:31 — "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples"
• James 1 — be doers of the Word, not hearers only; continuity of obedience
• 1 John 2:19 — "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us"
• 1 John 2:24 — "If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father... this is the promise: eternal life"
• John 6:66 — "Many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him" — the contrast that clarifies everything
B. What to Continue In
• The Gospel you have heard — the apostolic Gospel
• The Gospel proclaimed in all creation under heaven - universal in its reach
• The Gospel that made Paul a minister - the one that saved him and sent him
• Galatians 1:9 — "If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed"
• Continuing is not the cause of salvation - it is the confirmation of it; the fruit that proves the root is real
CONCLUSION: THE MINISTRY WE CARRY (2 Corinthians 5:14–21)
Four Truths About Reconciliation from 2 Corinthians 5:
1. It transforms men — v. 17: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation"
2. It appeases God's wrath — v. 21: "He made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God"
3. It comes through Christ alone — v. 18: "God... through Christ reconciled us to himself"
4. It is for everybody — v. 14: "One has died for all, therefore all have died" — both "alls" mean the same thing; the provision is universal
The Ministry Entrusted to Us:
• 2 Cor 5:18 — "He has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation"
• 2 Cor 5:19 — "He has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation"
• 2 Cor 5:20 — "We are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God"

06/07/2026

Christ Above All

Join us this Sunday as we explore one of the most powerful portraits of Jesus in all of Scripture: **"Christ Above All"*...
06/05/2026

Join us this Sunday as we explore one of the most powerful portraits of Jesus in all of Scripture: **"Christ Above All"** from **Colossians 1:15–19**. In a world filled with uncertainty and competing voices, we will discover why Jesus is supreme over creation, the Church, and every power in heaven and earth. Come expecting to encounter the majesty, authority, and glory of the One in whom all things hold together.
**"Come worship with us and see Christ exalted above all!"**
"Christ Above All"
June 7, 2026●Colossians 1:15-19●Pastor Jeff Heidt
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MAIN TEXT: Colossians 1:15–19 (ESV)
"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 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. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell."
________________________________________

INTRODUCTION: The Jesus Book
The Bible is fundamentally and completely the story of Jesus Christ!
• Old Testament — The Preparation — God setting the stage, prophets crying out, sacrifices pointing forward
• Gospels — The Presentation — God wrapped in flesh, walking on the ground He created
• Acts - The Proclamation - He is risen, He is Lord, He saves to the uttermost
• Epistles — The Personification — "For to me to live is Christ"
• Revelation — The Predomination — The Lamb on the throne, King of kings, Lord of lords
You can open the Bible anywhere and find Jesus. Philip opened Isaiah and "preached to him Jesus" (Acts 8:35). The risen Christ walked the Emmaus road and "beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:27).
The Crisis at Colossae:
• Epaphras reports a dangerous heresy: false teachers declare Christ insufficient
• Paul's response across three chapters — Christ alone is enough:
 Colossians 1:28 — "warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ"
— NO addition necessary
 Colossians 2:3 — "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" — NO knowledge beyond Christ needed
 Colossians 2:9 — "in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily" — NO supplemental power required

POINT I: CHRIST IN RELATION TO GOD (v. 15a)
"He is the image of the invisible God."
Core Truth: Jesus Christ is not a representation of God from a distance — He is God made perfectly and completely visible in human flesh.
• God is invisible by nature — no human eye has ever seen His unveiled glory — Moses himself was told "you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live" (Exodus 33:20) — yet in Christ, the invisible became visible, the eternal became temporal, the infinite put on the finite
• The word eikon — image — means a precise, exact, living replica — like a seal pressed into wax transferring every detail with absolute perfection — nothing missing, nothing reduced, nothing lost — Hebrews 1:3 says He is "the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature"
• Jesus is God up close — God touchable — God knowable — "No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known" (John 1:18) — and John who walked with Him declared, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us...full of grace and truth" (John 1:14)
• Every miracle reveals God's power. Every act of compassion reveals God's heart. Every word spoken reveals God's mind — Jesus declared it plainly — "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9)
• The Transfiguration was God pulling back the curtain of flesh — "His face shone like the sun" — and the Father thundered from heaven — "This is my beloved Son...listen to him" (Matthew 17:2, 5) — they glimpsed what was always there — God in human flesh
• Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:6 that God has shone in our hearts "to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" — the fullest, clearest revelation of who God is — found in the face of Jesus
• The Jews understood His claim perfectly — "you, being a man, make yourself God" (John 10:33) — they rejected it but they never misunderstood it — Jesus was declaring with absolute clarity — I and the Father are one
• Satan's greatest strategy is to blur this image — "the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Corinthians 4:4) — if he can keep people from seeing Jesus clearly, he can keep them from the only one who can save them
• Christ is the only perfect, unblemished, full revelation of God — "In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily" (Colossians 2:9) — if you want to know what God is like — look at Jesus

POINT II: CHRIST IN RELATION TO THE UNIVERSE (vv. 16–17)
"By him all things were created...in him all things hold together."
Core Truth: Jesus Christ is not part of the created order – He is the Creator of all things, the Sustainer of all things, and the sovereign Lord over all things.
• Paul drives a stake into the ground — Jesus did not appear in creation — Jesus created creation — "All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made" (John 1:3) — not some things, not spiritual things — all things
• Everything exists BY Him, THROUGH Him, and FOR Him — "all things were created through him and for him" (Colossians 1:16) — this universe was designed with purpose, by a person, for His own glory — every sunrise is His artistry, every thunderstorm an echo of His power — "through whom also he created the world" (Hebrews 1:2)
• He existed before anything existed — "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58) — "I am the first and the last, and the living one" (Revelation 1:17) — no beginning, no origin, no point at which He came into being
• "In him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17) — present tense, continuous, active — at this very moment Christ is personally sustaining every atom in existence — Hebrews 1:3 declares He is "upholding the universe by the word of his power"
• The coming dissolution described in 2 Peter 3:10 — "the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved" — that word dissolved means to loose what has been bound
• The same Jesus dissolving the old creation will speak the new creation into existence — "Behold, I am making all things new" (Revelation 21:5)
• The one holding the cosmos together is holding you together — "I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20)

POINT III: CHRIST IN RELATION TO THE UNSEEN WORLD (v. 16b)
"Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things were created through him and for him."
Core Truth: Jesus Christ is not one spiritual being among many — He created every angelic being, rules over every spiritual authority, and sits infinitely above the entire unseen world.
• The false teachers redirected Colossian worship toward the angelic hierarchy — claiming Christ was merely one station on the ladder toward God — Paul's answer is swift and devastating — He made them all — every throne, dominion, ruler, and authority owes its existence to Jesus Christ
• You don't climb to God through the angels — the angels bow before the Son — Hebrews 1 quotes seven Old Testament passages making one thunderous point — Christ is superior to every angel in every category — "For to which of the angels did God ever say, 'You are my Son'?" (Hebrews 1:5) None!
• The contrast is decisive — to the angels God says "He makes his angels winds" — to the Son He says "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever" (Hebrews 1:7–8) — the angels are servants, the Son is God — and when He brings the firstborn into the world — "Let all God's angels worship him" (Hebrews 1:6)
• At the name of Jesus — "every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth" (Philippians 2:9–10) — the very beings the heretics told the Colossians to venerate are themselves face down before Jesus
• Christ is seated far above — not slightly above — "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" (Ephesians 1:21) — and "angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him" (1 Pet 3:22)
• The battle is real — "we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness" (Ephesians 6:12) — but every hostile power operating against your life is under the sovereign authority of the one who made it
• Nothing in the seen or unseen world can touch you beyond His authority — "neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers...will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38–39) — you don't need to fear the unseen world when you know the one who made it, rules it, and has subjected every power in it to His own name

POINT IV: CHRIST IN RELATION TO THE CHURCH (v. 18)
"He is the head of the body, the church...that in everything he might be preeminent."
Core Truth: Jesus Christ is the living Head of His church — its source, its sustainer, its sovereign, its supreme risen Lord — and the church exists to display His preeminence in everything.
• The body metaphor is Paul's most intimate and organic image for the church — the head does not advise the body, it governs it — every impulse, every coordinated movement originates in the head — "he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body" (Ephesians 1:22–23)
• Christ is not an absentee head — He is present, active — "where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them" (Matthew 18:20) — "I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20)
• He is "the beginning" — arche — source, pioneer, originating power — the church was not born from human ingenuity — it was born from the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ — "Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22) — resurrection breath launching the church into existence
• He is "the firstborn from the dead" — prototokos — the preeminent one among all who have passed through death — raised never to die again — "Death no longer has dominion over him" (Romans 6:9) a glorified body
• He is the firstfruits of the resurrection harvest — "Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Corinthians 15:20) — the firstfruits were God's pledge and guarantee the full harvest would follow — Christ risen is God's certified guarantee that every person in Christ will also rise — "Because I live, you also will live" (John 14:19)
• "That in everything he might be preeminent" — not in most things, not in spiritual things only — in everything — home, relationships, plans, finances - He is first - any church that loses sight of this becomes a social club

POINT V: CHRIST IN RELATION TO EVERYTHING ELSE (v. 19)
"For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell."
Core Truth: Every attribute of God, every treasure of divine wisdom, every dimension of sovereign power dwells completely and permanently in Jesus Christ alone - He has no rivals, requires no supplements, and tolerates no equals.
• All — complete, total, undivided, undiminished — and it pleased the Father — this was not reluctant or provisional — it was the Father's delight to pour the totality of divine fullness into the Son
• The powers of deity were not distributed among angels or intermediaries — they dwell completely in one person — "in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily" (Colossians 2:9) — bodily, in a body, the infinite housed in the human — and you are complete in him" (Colossians 2:10)
• He has no rivals — "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3) no philosophical supplement can add to what He already fully possesses — He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6) — all three, completely, in one person
• From His fullness — everything He is becomes accessible to you — "From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace" (John 1:16) — wave after wave, sufficiency upon sufficiency — "My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19)
• His grace is not rationed — "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9) – sufficient means having more than enough — a supply that does not diminish, a grace that does not run dry — "that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19)
• Whatever you face in life — His fullness meets every need, covers every lack, fills every void — He who holds the cosmos together can hold your broken life together — He who is the Firstborn from the dead can breathe resurrection life into everything in you that has died

CONCLUSION: He Is Enough
The Five Declarations of Colossians 1:15–19:
*He is the image of the invisible God — God perfectly and completely revealed
*He is the Creator of all things — sovereign Lord over the entire universe
*He is the Lord of the unseen world — supreme over every angelic power
*He is the Head of the church — the firstborn from the dead, preeminent in all things
*He is the fullness of God dwelling bodily — sufficient for everything you will ever need

Final Word:
He is before all things — nothing in your life has gotten ahead of Him
In Him all things hold together — He is sustaining you right now
In Him all fullness dwells — everything you need is found in Him

"Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity." (2 Peter 3:18)

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