Christ in You

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

You may be seated and turn with me in your Bibles this morning to Colossians chapter one.

Chapter one.

You know, aren't you excited to know this morning that we've got a church that believes so strongly in mission?

Didn't you enjoy that this morning?

Amen.

I mean tremendous, tremendous.

And let me just say, I am so proud of that team.

I watched those men work like ants.

If you've ever seen ants, they never stop.

They never stop.

In fact, we almost had to make them stop because they were getting too hot there a couple of days.

And uh it was just phenomenal.

It really was.

And so team, Deedra, and boy, does Deedra do a fantastic job.

Amen.

Amen.

She really does.

And that just blesses my heart to see it.

It makes me want to go back, ready to get back on the plane, go back.

But we are, we've teamed up with them.

We're going to be helping finish that church.

I'm looking forward to going back and preaching for Julio.

The thing that got me the most upset, and I did, I got in the flesh for a little bit, was because I and if I had to do it again, Deedra, I'd probably still do, I'd have done what I started to do.

Just got I I started when I heard the plane, our plane wasn't gonna make it from here, I I told Deedra, I said, I think I'm gonna just go on to the airport and catch the plane, because I didn't want to miss preaching for Julia.

Uh now we had a great service that Sunday night and I was able to preach and then we enjoyed it.

Uh the next day, uh sharing the gospel in the tents the next two mornings at the different places.

But I really wanted to preach for Julia.

But uh I will next time.

I will next time.

So that was exciting.

Plus, I've made connections with the Southern Baptist.

We've got a convention down there at our convention.

And I'm gonna start helping uh train some of those pastors, I think.

And uh I think I may go down for a few days in October when they do their pastor's conference with Dan.

So that's kind of where and and the pastor at the church that I was at on Sunday night invited me.

He's overbringing in professors to teach, so he's inviting me to come down and teach evangelism and leadership.

So that's gonna be exciting.

But as we get plugged in there, hey, Jerusalem, all Judea, Samaria, and to the othermost parts of the world.

That's who we are.

Can you imagine a church not even three years old and what it's doing?

Can we give God just another hand?

Amen.

And that ought to get you excited about giving, because you see your monies being used to carry the gospel to the whole world.

And that's what we're gonna be talking about this morning as we look at Colossians chapter one, as we finish chapter one, and uh and then next week is memorial day.

You don't want to miss.

It's gonna be a great day.

Paul, one of our own captains in the service, is gonna be sharing his testimony.

He is powerful, powerful.

He shared it one uh men's breakfast, and uh we said next memorial day, Paul, we want you to share your testimony, and it's gonna be powerful.

So as we honor our vets this coming Sunday.

Colossians chapter 1, verses 21 through 29.

Colossians 1:21–29

And for time, I uh we will not read that passage, but I will exergetically take it apart.

Uh, but you can go back home and read it.

And does everyone have, I'm sure you do, you have your worship guide on the back.

And I want to just read what uh the introduction statement I made to you, and it says, man by nature is dead in trespasses and sin.

Ephesians 2.1.

And therefore, devoid of the divine element which makes him alive to God.

In other words, when you and I do not have the Holy Spirit living in us, we do not have life.

The Bible says it is the spirit that gives life.

John 6.63.

It is the spirit that breaks, hey, breaks down the sin part in our life and crucifies us in nature and brings in the divine nature so that we can have life with Christ.

It is the spirit that quickens.

The flesh profits nothing.

These things that I speak unto you, they are spirit.

Now watch.

They are life.

John 6, 63.

So, and we're formed in iniquity, and in sin did our mother conceive us, Psalms 51, verse 5.

Psalms 51:5

So we realize that there's a disconnect as we're born into this world from God.

And that's very important that we understand.

In fact, he says in Romans 5.12, wherefore it's by one man Adam, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death has passed upon.

Now watch, all men, for all have sinned.

You and I are born with that sin nature.

We are born with a disconnection from God.

Even though God is our creator, he is not our savior until we come to know Christ as Lord and Savior.

So it's important you understand that, church.

And with that said, this is what Paul is expressing to the church at Colossae.

And boy, is he writing it vehemently.

And the first thing I want us to look at, and by the way, it doesn't matter if you're born into a Christian family, that doesn't make you a Christian.

Come on, church, amen.

It doesn't matter if you're born in a Christian country, that does not make you a Christian.

That doesn't matter if you were raised in a church, that does not make you a Christian.

And it's important that you understand that.

And with that said, we see God's answer to this deficiency in our lives, that disconnection in our lives, and here it is, number one.

He gives us three things, and we're gonna look at them this morning.

We're gonna look at the majesty, number one, of the life in Christ, and then we'll look at the mystery, and then we'll look at the ministry and the life of Christ that you and I have.

But let's begin with number one.

The majesty.

Look at verse 15 of this life in Christ.

We made this statement a couple of weeks ago when we were preaching on the preeminence of Christ.

But notice what it says.

Who is the image of the invisible God?

Now watch, the firstborn of every creature.

In other words, the word image there literally means a reflection of God's glory.

It means, and I love this, it means an imprint of God's, hey, glory, an imprint of who God is.

It means a copy of who God is.

In other words, Jesus and God are one.

John 10, 30.

And that's what he's talking about.

That listen, he was created.

Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.

In fact, a lot of people believe that God, well, we know he was, if the creation of God was, first of all, the first creation he did was his son Jesus.

So we see that he's the firstborn of creation.

And here's a statement which declares that all that God represents, all that God is, this is so powerful.

All that God is, all that God represents is all embodied in his son, Jesus Christ.

Watch this, folks.

If you catch this, you're ready for an experience that you'll never get over because it really means that you and I, through Jesus Christ, have an intimate relationship with God the Father.

God the Father, you and I can have no relationship apart from a relationship with Jesus Christ if we're going to have a relationship with God the Father.

There's one mediator, hey, between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus.

1 Timothy 2.5.

So that's important that we understand that.

And that's the powerful statement that he's making right here.

Here's what he is definitely telling us.

He's saying that Christ is the image of the invisible God.

He is the radiance of the glory of God.

And in this passage before us, this outshining of God's glory is seen in two things.

Number one, first of all, hey, his created life.

Look at Christ's created life.

This majesty of this life is seen in his created life.

Look at verse 16 and 17.

By him were all things created in verse 16.

And then verse 17, and by him all things consist.

And we talked a little bit about that, but the verse I really want you to see is 1 John 1:3.

1 John 1:3

All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

Can I get an amen?

He is the creator of everything.

He created the universe.

He created you and me.

You and I are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are his works.

Psalms 139, verse 14.

Psalms 139:14

Did you know something?

God just, hey, hey, did you re do you realize, now this will get you excited, do you realize that God thought through your design?

And so the next time you get up and you think, well, I'm too fat, I'm too ugly, I'm too this, I'm too that, you you, as my grandmother used to say, hush your mouth.

Hush your mouth.

Why?

Because God loves you and God designed you and God wonderfully created you and marvelous are his works.

Can I get an amen?

Say this with me, church.

I am special to God.

Say it again.

I am special to God.

You are special to God.

And don't you ever forget that.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made.

You just, hey, you just were not thought up and all of a sudden are just a bunch of dust just thrown out, and all of a sudden whatever came together made you.

That's the theology of evolution.

Just a big bone theory, and we talked about that.

Let me ask something.

I don't have a watch.

I don't have a watch, but uh well I do, but I think I lost it.

But if I had a watch up here, let me ask something.

That watch is beautifully designed, it is beautifully created, and I'm talking about intricately put together.

Would you not agree?

And then it just ticks, ticks, ticks, and goes on and on, and every once in a while you just have to put a little battery and it keeps going.

Somebody put that together.

And not only do they put it together where it wouldn't break, they put it together where it would consistently run.

Now that's called organization, that's called planning.

Now let me ask you something.

If I took that watch apart and I put it in a bag, and I took that bag and I just shook it like this and threw it out, would I have a watch that I could put on my hand?

Hello! Is that not dumb?

Well, that's what we believe in evolution.

Everything just bang, here we are.

Give me a break.

You're smarter than that.

I wished our university professors were smarter than that.

But anyway, that's that's the creation, his created life.

And it is, hey, not only do we see that he created it, he sustains it.

It's amazing that in recent years, scientists are beginning to realize that there's a consistent integrating system that holds everything together.

Duh! All they have to do is read the Bible.

The Bible's been telling us that for years.

He created it and he sustains it.

All things are created by him.

All things are sustained by him.

What a tremendous insight.

Nothing is as important as Jesus Christ.

Nothing.

Nothing is more important.

No man can serve two masters.

Either he will hate the one, hold to the other, despise the one.

Hey, you can't have two masters.

Either he's Lord of all or he's not Lord at all.

Amen.

And not only that, nothing is, hey, to come before Jesus.

He's the firstborn.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things should be added unto you.

Amen.

And then notice what else?

Nothing is to outshine Jesus.

Listen, Jesus ought to be the number one in your life.

He ought to be the most radiant in your life.

The Bible says that we're to be a what?

A light that's set on a hill that cannot be hid.

In fact, he even says in Matthew 5, why would you take the light and put it under a bushel?

You wouldn't do that.

But let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Those who look to him are radiant.

They should never be ashamed.

Psalms 34, 5.

We are to be a amber for the glory of God.

We ought to outshine, hey, hey, we ought to outshine every lost person we come in contact with.

If they don't see a difference, something's wrong.

Something's wrong.

Amen?

We're to outshine them all.

And God so vehemently tells us to do that.

So we see, hey, this majesty of this life in Christ is seen in his creative life, but notice secondly, it is seen in his redemptive life.

Man, this is good.

It is seen in his redemptive life.

Look at verse 18 and 20.

Verse 18.

And he is the head of the body of the church, having made peace through the blood of the cross to reconcile all things unto himself.

By him I say, whether there be things in earth or things in heaven.

God has not only demonstrated this majesty of his son in the realm of creation, but look, look at this redemption.

Have you ever thought about the story?

The redemptive story?

Now think a minute, the annunciation in Luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

Have you ever thought about it?

The Bible says that God said to a little teenager, Mary, 16 to 17 years of age, that you're going to receive a child.

Hey, and this, in fact, Isaiah 7.14 says that she's a virgin, never known a man.

You're going to receive a child.

And you're going to have this child, and you're going to name this child Emmanuel, which means God with us.

Now, I want you to think about that story.

Here's God coming to this young lady saying, You're going to have my son, Jesus Christ.

And the Holy Spirit is going to be the one doing the impregnation.

Not man, but now why?

Why?

Why could, hey, why did it have to be a supernatural pregnant situation?

Because remember, we're born with a sin nature.

We're already disconnected with God.

It had to be a pure seed.

Can I get an amen?

There could be no sin.

None whatsoever.

But here's this little girl.

She's told that she's going to have God's son.

I mean, can you imagine?

Here's the record of God coming to this little girl and saying that you're going to be born of a virgin.

You're going to have a son.

This son's going to be a little boy.

He's going to grow up.

He's going to be a young man.

Hey, then he's going to be a prophet.

He's going to be a priest.

He's going to be a king.

And then he's going to go to the cross and he's going to be crucified and take your sin and my sin upon you.

But then he's going to be put in the tomb to be dead forever.

Oh, no, no, no, no.

But on the third day, he's going to come up out of that grave.

And then he eventually, after a few days, he's going to ascend back to the right hand of God the Father, where he's going to live and be our mediation until we go to be with him.

Wow, what a story.

What an unbelievable story.

That's called the Mysteries of God.

Amen.

But that's exactly what happened.

In fact, I wrote this down to myself.

Can you imagine this?

Listen to what I wrote.

He came from the bosom of the father to the bosom of a young lady.

Notice what else.

Hey, he put on humanity that we might put on divinity.

Amen.

He became the son of man that we might become the sons of God.

He was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor.

How poor?

Ask Mary.

Ask the shepherds.

Hey, he slept in another's manger.

Luke chapter 2 said he didn't even have any clothes.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

They wrapped him in rags and laid him in a manger.

Had no bed to lay his head on, Matthew 2.8.

And then, hey, ask the guy.

Hey, he borrowed a donkey to ride into town.

He borrowed a boat to go fishing.

He borrowed a boat to go to the other side.

He had no place to lay his head.

And he ultimately ended up boring another man's tomb to be buried in.

But yet he was the perfect, majestic, oh, most high, perfect one, the chiefest among ten thousands.

He is altogether lovely.

What a savior! That's the redemptive story, folks.

What a picture of an awesome, real God.

His creative life, his redemptive life.

And then notice the second thing.

The mystery of this life in Christ.

Look at verse 27.

This mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Now, in ancient times, mysteries were some philosophy or some truth that was hidden from everyone except a certain select.

That's what a mystery was back in the ancient days.

But that's not the context here.

In this context, it means something which cannot be understood.

Now watch, cannot be understood by human reason without the aid of illumination, the understanding of the Holy Spirit of God.

In other words, you and I can't understand God's mysteries apart from the, hey, apart from the teaching and the illumination and the understanding that is given to us through the power of the Holy Spirit, through the teachings of the Word of God.

Somebody say, Amen.

I know that was a lot of theology right there, but amen.

That means without God's Holy Spirit living in us, without, hey, him being the teacher to give us the understanding of God's word, we will never know who's really in us.

Who's really in us?

Christ Himself.

Who's really in us?

Christ Himself.

Hey, through the power of the Holy Spirit, the person of the Holy Spirit who represents God the Father.

Woo! Something about to have a spell.

Some of you went right, foop-foop.

That just means you got power in you.

Can I get an amen?

You got something real in you.

And I mean it's real.

If you got it.

Hello.

And by the way, let me just go on and say it.

If you got it, you know it.

Amen.

Why?

Because you can't explain it.

But it's there.

It's a mystery.

It's a mystery.

This is the mystery that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, actually lives in the hearts and lives of men and women who have acknowledged his majesty in creation and his redemption they have personally experienced.

That's a mystery.

Can you believe Christ is in you?

A few of you.

I'm going to try that again.

It's not a trick question.

Amen.

It's not a trick question, folks.

Christ in you.

Do you realize Christ lives in you?

The hope of glory.

Yeah, you say, yeah, it is.

But I want you to see two things about it.

I want you to see two things.

Clay, if you don't mind, hand me that water.

Thank you.

By the way, isn't it great to have Vanessa and Ronnie here?

I'd just been sharing.

God bless y'all.

That's what your daddy would have wanted, by the way.

He's in heaven and say, Don't you stay home from church.

Hey, I'm in heaven.

You go to church, girl.

Amen.

That's the way it's supposed to be.

But now notice the second thing.

Not only do we see, well, the mystery of this life in Christ, but there's two things I want you to see about this mystery.

Number one, the miracle of his incoming.

Look at verse 27.

Christ in you.

I want you to look at John 3.

You know, the coming of Christ into a human life is one of the greatest miracles of the universe.

I would go on record saying it's the greatest miracle in the universe.

Can I get an amen?

There's no greater miracle than a person receiving Jesus Christ and receiving a radical transformation.

There's nothing more important, nothing more exciting, nothing more miraculous.

Amen.

You're dead in sin.

You were in the muck, and God jerked you out.

He pulled your foot out of the muck and placed it on the rock and put a new song in your heart.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

So now watch, watch.

Watch this.

There's nothing greater.

Nothing greater.

Now, to argue that because a person has been brought up in a Christian home, Christian currency, all that, you know, that there's nothing.

It's impossible.

There has to be a relationship, and I want you to see this.

In John chapter 3, verse 3.

John 3:3

John chapter 3, and basically, except a man be born again, he shall not see the kingdom of God.

Except a man be born again, he shall not see the kingdom of God.

A man, he says, there's two births.

He said, How can Nicodemus asked Jesus, how can I be born again?

He said, Well, first of all, you got, hey, a man's born of water, and then what?

Of Christ.

There's the physical birth with water in the mother's womb.

And then there's the spiritual birth through the power of the Holy Spirit.

And he says, one birth, hey, one birthday won't do.

You need two.

You ought to have a date when you were you do, when you were physically born.

Now you need a date when you were spiritually born.

Amen.

So, why?

It's a radical change.

You know it.

You know why?

Somebody said, Well, I don't know when, I don't know, I can't remember when I got saved.

I said, now wait a minute.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

I said, okay, I can live with that with a little bit.

But when you were physically born, you don't remember it, but there's evidence of it.

Okay?

You with me?

I mean, you were born in a hospital, born in a home.

So anyway, somebody wrote your name down, gave you your name, wrote the date down and the year down, did they not?

Amen.

It's called a birth certificate.

Thank you.

Okay?

That's what it's called.

Alright.

You may not know exactly the date that you got saved, but let me tell you, there ought to be a lot of evidences of you getting radically saved when you got saved.

You changed.

And you can go back to that time, and then all you got to do is go look it up and find your certificate.

Because if it was in a church, they got a record of it.

Or whoever, hey, you remember when you changed.

Amen.

So there's got to be evidence of your salvation.

And it's so exciting to see that evidence.

Oh, what a beautiful picture.

And the miracle of this uncoming, it consists of three things.

I'm going to help you here.

It consists of three things: mind, heart, and will.

Now, here's the problem.

Here's why a lot of people think they're saved that aren't.

And I can say this vehemently, I've been doing this 33 years.

I taught this for almost 20 years at college level to all freshmen.

And every time I presented this to them, we'd have 20, 30 people get saved because they would have been struggling.

A lot of people think they're saved because they've made an intellectual mind decision.

They know.

They know Jesus died on the cross.

They know that he was buried.

They know he rose the third day.

They know that.

And they even in their mind believe that.

There's a lot of people that have, hey, made an emotional decision.

What does that mean?

God's all over them.

God's convicted them.

They know they need to change.

So they go up and say, Lord, save me, change me.

They've mentally thought through it.

They've emotionally thought through it.

But if they don't do this third thing, guess what?

All it is is an intellectual, emotional decision.

It's not a real decision.

And the third one is they got to give their will to Christ.

They've got to give their will to Christ.

Not I, but Christ.

Jesus even said, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, not my own.

You got to give your will.

Now let me prove it.

Revelation 3, 3, 20.

Here it is.

Behold, Jesus said, I stand at the door and knock.

Now watch this.

Man, this is so good.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

I think you've got it.

There it is.

Look at what he says.

Now, when we see, behold, I stand.

This is an appeal to that intellectual, that faculty of perception.

That's the mind.

You know Jesus is there.

You know Jesus died on the cross.

You know he was buried.

You know what the Bible says about him.

And in your mind, you believe that.

In your mind, let me ask you, let me help you.

I think this helped clear.

In your mind, can you believe something and still not do it?

Hello?

That's not a trick question.

Can you believe something and still not do it?

We do it every day.

Amen?

Every day.

So he says, look at him.

I stand at the door.

Behold, I stand.

It's appealed to that perception of mine.

But now we must understand that Christ is waiting to enter our lives the very Christ of creation that we're talking about.

Now notice the next phrase.

If any man hears my voice, that appeals to the faculty of emotion.

If any man hears my voice, man, God's stirring you.

Oh, he's moving you.

Okay?

God's moving you.

We see that almost every Sunday here.

God gets hold of your heart, He's moving you.

But He's moving you, He's teaching you, He's giving you reason, and He's starting to move you for you to do something.

And that is to make a decision.

And that decision is more than just mentally and emotionally.

It is your will.

In other words, He's making you to move to action.

Can I get an Amen?

You gotta really live it out.

You can't just believe it and feel it.

Oh, I feel it.

Oh, I didn't feel it today.

Well, I don't care whether you felt it or not.

It's still the truth.

Hello?

And by the way, your salvation's not feelings.

If you hey hey, listen, if you based your salvation on feelings, you'd be lost a lot of time.

Hello?

Hello?

And I know there's some that kind of believe that, and I used to have some good preaching friends that, and I used to, they used to get so mad at me, and I did not mean this disrespectfully, because we they, in fact, they love me.

We were the closest.

In fact, I was better more close for friends in that camp than I did my own camp.

Because my own camp thought I was crazy and was in that camp.

But anyway.

Mess.

I've just been I've been out there as the weird boy.

Okay, I'm weird.

All right.

But anyway, I'd say, well, how do you feel today?

Because if they felt bad, I said, Well, can I lead you to Jesus?

Because I knew their salvation based on every preacher.

I said, no, but really, listen, you don't base your salvation on feelings.

You base your salvation on a fact.

And how do you know that fact?

Because you've given your will to him and he's radically changed you.

You can't talk me out of my salvation.

You can't, hey, I don't care how bad I feel when I wake up in the morning and my back hurts a lot of times.

Hey, and I don't feel good and I'm tired.

But I know one thing I do know.

I may not know anything.

Well, there's two things I know.

One, I know Susan loves me unconditionally, and two, I know Jesus Christ loves me unconditionally, and he lives in my heart, and I don't care what you say, what you think, what you do.

Christ loves me to the end.

Amen.

And I'm not gonna lose my salvation.

It's real.

It's real.

Why did I know I've given my will?

And look at the third thing.

That's what he says.

Watch.

And finally, the words.

Here it is.

Here's the will.

We looked at the mind, we looked at the heart, here's the will.

Hey, if any man, behold, I stand at the door, that's the mind.

If any man hear my voice, that's the feelings, that's the heart.

And open the door.

That's the appeal of the faculty of the volition, the will.

Whenever there is this three-fold response of the mind, heart, and will, the miracle happens.

There is a transformation.

So I know I'm convinced of it.

I've been doing it 32 years.

I've watched thousands of young teenagers and adults.

They come down, they make a decision, and then they'll go for a little while and you don't see them again.

Or they get out of the church.

We see them right now.

I've talked to two yesterday.

And what's happened is, well, but I know I'm saved.

And I said, wait a minute.

If you know you're saved, why aren't you living it?

Well, no, what's happened?

They've made an emotional or intellectual decision.

They've not made that will.

They've not really crucified themselves and allowed Christ to be Lord of all.

Now, when that takes place, trust me, you're going to have a miraculous happening because there's going to be a miraculous, miraculous indwelling.

Because you open the door.

All he's waiting for you to do is open the door.

And boy, he'll fill you.

Woo! He will fill you up to the full.

What does it like to say?

To the fullness.

See, what's happened?

You're not filled.

You're not full.

You're not full.

What a tremendous insight right here.

The miracle of his incoming.

Now look at the second thing.

The measure of his indwelling.

Now we see the miracle when he comes in, but there's a measure of his indwelling.

Christ in you, verse 27.

Now, that title Christ is a powerful word.

It literally is in reference to the Messiah.

When you look at the word Messiah, it's in representation of the anointed prophet.

It's in representation of the priest, the ultimate priest.

It's in representation of King, the ultimate king.

And who was Jesus?

Prophet, priest, and king.

So as we see this, when we say Christ in you, here's what we're saying.

And for Christ to be a reality in your life and in my life, this is awesome.

He must be heard.

Watch now.

Well, this is gonna be good.

Watch.

He must be heard as the undisputed prophet.

In other words, his word surpasses every word.

Sanctify them through thy word.

Thy word is truth.

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

John 8 30, John 17, 17, John 8.32.

Can I get an Amen church?

But not only must he be heard as the undisputed prophet, but secondly, oh I love this, he must be heeded as the undisputed priest.

In other words, Romans 12, 1 and 2, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.

In other words, be ye doers of the word, not hearers only deceiving your own self.

He must be, hey, heeded as the undisputed priest.

And then thirdly, he must be honored as the undisputed king.

Oh, and he had on his vesture and he had on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me remind you, when he's the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, he's ruler and controller and governor and president of everything.

Amen.

Now that is the full, that's when you start understanding the fullness of God.

The fullness of the Holy Spirit is when he is prophet, priest, and king.

In fact, what a powerful, powerful truth.

I wanted to, I think I have 1 John in your notes.

I want you to look at, pull up 1 John back there 3, 23 and 24, and I want you to see this.

It's powerful.

He talks about the prophetic word and the heeding, the her hearing, and the in fact, Jesus said, He that has ear to hear, let him hear.

Listen this.

And this is his commandment that we should believe on the name of his son Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave us commandment.

And then look at verse 24.

And he that keepeth his commandments dwells in him, and he in him.

And hereby we know that the, hey, and hereby we know that he abides in us by the Spirit which he hath given us.

In other words, when God's Spirit is living in us and we honor him as prophet, priest, and king, folks, we'll be loving God and we'll be loving people.

Amen.

I told Matilda when she came in, I said, you know what?

She said, I've been hearing a lot of good things about this church.

I said, Well, here's who we are.

We don't put on airs for anybody.

We love God, we love people.

We don't care who you are, we don't care what color you are, we don't care how much money you got, how much money you don't have, don't care about your educational level, we don't care about all that.

What we do care about is your soul.

Do you know Jesus Christ?

And we're one body.

In fact, one of who one of those mysteries is not only Christ in you, but one of the other mysteries that he's talking about to the church at Colossians is how that when Christ came and started the new creation in the New Testament.

The old creation was the world.

The new creation, you hear this, but a lot of people misunderstand it.

Old creation was the world that he created.

You know what the new creation is?

It's the church.

He created the church so that you and I could be ambassadors of Christ to the world.

So the new creation is the church.

That's you and me.

And we're to live out true Christianity in us so people can see Christ in us, so they will come to know Christ as Lord and Savior.

If I be exalted, I'll draw men unto myself.

Amen.

Woo! You can't exalt him if he's not in there.

How can you exalt something you don't have?

Well, that's good preaching, preacher.

Somebody said, Where did he go?

The book.

I'm tired of people thinking they're saved and on the way to heaven, and they go to church when they want to, when they feel to, when they everything else, and decide when they want to go, but I'm okay.

No, you ain't okay.

I'm gonna be held responsible.

Oh, bless God, I'm gonna preach the truth.

Because it'll set us free.

Alright, number three.

The majesty.

The mystery, the miracle of his encover.

It's a miracle that he's in there.

But you gotta give your heart, you gotta give your mind, you gotta give your will.

But once he is, it's gonna be obvious that he's in there because you're living for him, because he's ultimate, hey, king, he's the ultimate priest, he's the ultimate prophet, and you're living according to his commandments and the church.

Now here's where it comes, really, where the rubber meets the road.

You ready for this?

Mm-mm.

I had an illustration.

I need to read that to you.

You need to hear this.

I found this.

I said, that's good.

Doctor, this will help explain what I've been preaching because some of you I don't think got it.

I found this story in all my research the last couple of weeks.

I put this would be a good story to read.

Dr.

F.

B.

Myers, great theologian preacher, used to tell a story of a widow who lived with her son in a house in one of England's seaside towns.

One day, without warning, the lad left home and went to sea.

At first, the distressed mother held the hope that the boy would soon return.

There was no more hope.

But as time went, well, I mean, she thought there would be hope, but then as time went by, she accepted the fact that he was gone for good.

But extremely poor, she soon had to plan how to earn her living, so she decided to turn a little home into a guest house to make it a success.

She had to work, she had to work hard night and day, her hands became rough, her back became scoop, her face soon was worn.

But on she worked year after year.

One day a sailor with a heavy beard applied to stay at her guest house.

She welcomed him in and gave him one of her rooms.

At first, she thought there was something strange and mysterious about this man.

Still, she tried to take a little notice and worked harder than ever.

Then one evening she made a glorious discovery.

Intrigued by a familiar gesture, she dared to ask her sailor guest who he really was, but to her joy found that he was none other than her son.

And as soon as the mystery was solved, he took charge of the situation.

Mother, he said, I am now a rich man.

So I want you to give those worn hands of yours a rest.

I want you to see that back straightened up.

I want you to see your face look young again.

What work there is to be done, I will do.

Your business from now on is to rely on me.

Woo! That's salvation.

When you get saved.

It's our business now when the mystery is seen and evolves, and we realize it's Christ in us the hope of glory.

It is our job to rely on him.

Wow.

That's what Vanessa's doing right now.

Her dad just went to be with Jesus.

She's right here on the front row.

In the flesh, she couldn't do that.

But the hope of glory in her, she can do that.

Her dad's up there having a Pentecostal Methodist spell.

Amen?

You're listening to me, church?

Oh, this is good.

I'm telling you, you catch it.

You'll never be the same.

You'll never be the same.

So, how do we live that out?

Number three, the ministry of this life in Christ.

Two things.

Verse 27, Christ in you.

Now watch, the hope of glory.

The only hope that this poor dark world in time, hey, in this time that we're living in, or even in eternity, is Jesus Christ.

The only method, now watch, which God has devised, ooh, this is so good.

I wrote it to myself, for reaching men and women is through you and me.

Do you understand that?

And I know what you're thinking.

Well, God could, God doesn't have to use me.

He does not.

He did not have to use you.

But he chose the method for you and me to be used.

Why do you think we do mission trips?

Why do you just think we we brought that Honduras trip?

Why do you think that?

We're ambassadors.

We, God's chosen you and me to go into our community, hey, our Jerusalem, our Judea, our Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the world to reach people with the good news, with that miraculous, mysterious indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God.

And how do we do that?

Here it is.

Watch.

The world must be reached through us.

No doubt about it.

Once Christ becomes an indwelling reality, he uses our bodies and lives to reach other people.

I thought about that.

What does that mean?

There's a sense in which he has no eyes, but our eyes.

Hello.

Did you get that?

There's a sense that he has no eyes.

Now we know the Bible says eyes are the Lord in every place, holy even.

I understand that.

But I'm talking about now that for him to work through us.

Guess what?

He uses our eyes.

So won't that control what we watch?

I will set no wicked thing before my eyes.

Psalms 101, verse 3.

Psalms 101:3

No wicked thing.

Okay?

There's a sense then, if we're his eyes, there's also a sense that we're his ears.

That means we're not going to listen to gossip.

We're not going to listen to bad talk, cursing.

Hello?

Hello?

We're not going to, we're just not going to listen to anything that doesn't, hey, have good.

Think on those things that are true, honest, and peace.

Philippians 4, verse 8.

Philippians 4:8

All those things.

That's what we're going to think of.

That's what we're going to listen to.

And there's a sense then that, hey, we're his hands.

So that means we're going to do a great day's work for a great day's pay.

Amen.

Work.

Young people, listen to me.

Work.

Any man putting his hands to the plow and looking back's not fit for the kingdom of God.

Luke 9.62.

Work.

There's no free lunch.

You say, well, I got one.

No, you don't.

You think you do.

Somebody's paying for it.

Amen.

Hello?

By the way, if you're not working, how are you going to get rewards when you get to heaven?

Mm-mm.

Oh, me, that hurt.

I wore my boots today.

I knew where I was going.

Huh?

If we're going to be rewarded for works, if you're sitting at home doing squat, why are you going to get rewarded?

Well, I'm just going to get in by the skin of my teeth.

Ha ha ha! Okay.

You want to base your eternity on the skin of your teeth?

Hello! Lord help us.

Hey, there's a sense that he's, hey, hey, that we're his feet.

We walk by faith, not by sight.

That means wherever our feet take us, that's where Jesus is.

Whatever we say, Jesus is listening.

Whatever we watch, he's watching.

Whatever we hear, he hears.

Are y'all with me?

But there's also a sense that we're his heart.

And that we're the love through our heart.

Unconditionally.

Can I get an amen?

Unconditionally.

And then number two, the last thing.

The world must be reached through us.

And the word, God's word must be preached through us.

Look at verse 28.

Christ in you, the hope of glory, verse 27, and then verse 28.

Whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom.

Just as Jesus incarnate was God's conversation with men.

So we became, we become that same extension of Christ's hey conversation with men.

Wow.

Wow.

The word preached there, there's four words used, Greek words used in the New Testament.

They all end with like carusa.

Evangelism.

Okay?

But here's what it means.

One means to herald, like I'm doing now.

To proclaim it.

The other one means to talk about it.

The other one means to teach thoroughly about it.

And the other one means to talk constantly about it.

Wow.

Now that is our commission as a Christian.

That's sanctification, that's justification.

And notice what he said here.

This is great.

I picked this up.

Deedra, you may have never seen it.

Have you ever seen the Great Commission in verse 28?

Put verse 28 up there for me.

I want you to watch this.

Whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom.

Now watch this.

God showed me this about 6:30 this morning.

Watch this.

When we preach warning every man.

That is preaching the gospel.

Hey, but what I'm talking about preaching, not just the love of Christ, but the damnation, hey, the damnation of being rejected, the damnation, let me say it correctly, the damnation of rejecting Christ.

In other words, there's a heaven and God's love, absolutely.

But guess what?

There's a hell and hey, to reject Jesus Christ's love is to go to hell.

There's a hell, church.

There's a hell and it's hot.

Warning, warning.

If there's no, hey, if there's no consequences, why would he say warn every man?

There's a consequence of you rejecting Christ.

You're gonna go to hell and spend an eternity there.

That's the purpose of going to Honduras, to go into Africa.

That's why we go.

It's the Great Commission.

Now, watch the other part: teaching every man in all wisdom.

Now, Melvin quoted this.

Man, God's so good the way he puts things together.

He quoted Matthew 28, 19 and 20.

It's called the Great Commission Missionary Chapter.

Verses.

That's where everybody goes.

Even though there's four called, but there's another one.

I'm gonna tell Jim, I'm gonna show Jim No O'Neill this.

He missed one.

Here's another one.

God gave it to me this morning.

Teaching.

Every man.

We win them, we teach them.

That's the Great Commission.

Now, when you go to verses 8, 19, and 20, there's two words there used for teach.

The first one is, guess what?

It means to make disciples.

You said it correctly.

Go teach.

No, go make disciples.

Now teaching is part of that, but go make disciples.

Then the next word, teaching, is the other word that we would say, teach them thoroughly how to be a disciple.

Woo! That's good.

That's theology 101.

You hear me?

There it is, right here.

In the last verse in Colossians chapter 1, Paul's given the great commission.

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

There it is.

Is that not good?

Is that not good?

So here's the question.

How well are we doing?

And carrying out the warning and the teaching.

How well are we doing?

Susan made the statement about a lady that quit her job.

She was within a Christian job.

Or Christian school, I think.

And she she went and took a secular job.

And you know why she did?

She said, I don't even know lost people.

Everybody I work with saved.

Everybody I fellowship with saved.

And I got to thinking, is that not the tendency of the church?

Is to, hey, we bring people in, or people come in and they get saved, we love them, and then all of a sudden we we we we just kind of forget that there's still a world out here dying and going to hell.

Oh Lord, help us.

Never to forget that burden.

And by the way, as much as I love to go to Honduras and go to Judea and Jerusalem, listen, there's 82% of the people within a 10-mile radius of this church, or 82,000 people, 82% of them not in church, which chances are 82% of them don't know Christ as Lord and Savior.

Why?

Because there would be a difference.

Let me tell you something.

If you love God, you go be in church.

I'm just gonna say it.

That's the bottom line.

And I'm not saying you gotta be in our church, but find a great Bible-believing, Bible preaching, God loving, God people loving, hey, that doesn't, hey, that's not prejudice, not social clubs, that loves God and loves people and get involved.

Amen.

I love you.

I look for it every Sunday morning for us listening to the truth.

I need it as much as any of you need it.

Because I can get, hey, I have that tendency every once in a while to get caught in my little bubble.

It's easy to do.

Why?

Because we have fun together.

Amen.

I mean, I went to a gun show with Jesse yesterday.

We had a ball.

I bought a gun.

I'm confessing before they tell you, honey, I bought a gun.

Now I'll be in trouble for two days, but that's okay.

I'm gonna, I they bad influence on me, honey.

Russell, Jesse, Melvin, I'm gonna just start naming them.

All of them.

Bad influence on preachers.

Todd, John, and I know, yeah, all of them.

They just they led me astray.

No, no, no, they did not.

They led me to the temptation, but I went astray.

No, no.

I drove them there.

It was my talk.

I'm guilty.

But but but it's easy for us to get caught up in our bubble, isn't it?

When's the last time you just went right next door and asked your neighbor?

Can I do something to be a blessing to you?

Can I just love you?

Good to go to Honduras.

What about your next door neighbor?

Good to go to Honduras.

And I mean that sincere.

But you need to be loving all over this couple right here.

She just lost her bread.

You need to be loving all over her.

Whatever she needs, we need to be meeting.

Hello.

And I know I'll put you on the spot and I know you're gonna kick me afterwards, that's okay.

But I'm I'm preaching the reality.

And by the way, let me just say something right here.

And I've start playing.

I love it when you play.

Let me just say something right here.

You're pastor.

We're too big for me to do it all anymore.

I can't do it.

Can't do it, folks.

I need your help.

We're one body.

And I'm telling you, it's gonna grow.

It's not gonna get smaller.

I mean, we got vacationing in and out, I know.

But I'm telling you, you watch.

We've already been averaging up to 230, 240, 20.

This fall, we're gonna be close to 300 people.

You wait and see.

And let me tell you why.

Because you're gonna be out loving people to Jesus.

You're gonna be meeting your neighbors' needs and telling them about Jesus.

Let me tell you, people want to come to a place where they're loved.

Amen.

People want to come to a place where they're loved and they know they'll be taken care of.

And let me tell you something else.

People that are born-again Christians, they want to come to the place that they know their shepherd loves them enough to preach the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Not just the exciting exhortation, and you know I'm good at that's my gift.

But the whole truth, what we heard today.

The whole counsel of God.

We gotta have the warnings too.

Can I get an Amen?

We gotta have the warnings with the encouraging.

That keeps me straight.

Re-fires my battery to remind me that this past week there was a few times I had a chance to give out my life and death track, and I didn't.

Yeah.

You didn't, preacher?

No?

Well, how meant you give out?

Huh?

I'm just being transparent.

Because normally I do it automatically, but you know, you just get caught up in your bubble.

All right, here's what we really get really get caught up in.

What are they gonna think?

Guess what?

Why are you worried about what they're gonna think when God, as Melvin said, commandes you to share it?

It doesn't matter what they think, what matters is what he says.

Can I get an Amen church?

So I want you to grab.

I want you to get your cards and everywhere you go this summer, make a dedication.

Make a dedication, make a commitment you're gonna tell everybody you see about Jesus.

And give them a card.

Amen.

Let's stand to our feet with our heads bowed.

No moving unless you just have to.

I know the cooking crew sometimes.

But this is so Satan can so distract us with this, the first movement.

I know he does me if I'm sitting there.

Let me ask you this morning.

When you got saved, did you make a decision with your mind, heart, and will?

Or did you just make a mind decision or an emotional decision?

And you know right now he's not Lord of all in your life.

You know right now he's not first in your life.

You know that you're a good person.

I understand all that.

And you you you you come to church and this or that, or sometimes or this apart-time, or what, but I mean if he really consumes you.

Because that's what Colossians 1, 21 through the last chapter, last part of Colossians mean.

That hey, he's Christ in you, the hope of glory.

That means you think about him all the time, you work for him all the time.

Oh, yeah, we'll have bad days, we'll have good days, but we stay faithful.

In fact, verse 23 and 24 talks about not turning from the faith, staying faithful to the faith.

What it said.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.