Better Than Angels: Pay Attention to God’s Son - January 18, 2026

It is my privilege to invite you to today's sermon podcast.

I have made the Apostle Paul's prayer request my own.

When he states in Ephesians 6.19, Pray also for me, that whenever I open my

mouth, the words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.

May today's sermon come alive to you and aid you in your understanding of God's

plan for your life. Good morning.

You ready for the Word today? You know, we started this series in Hebrews,

and some of you have already done your homework. You've read already through

the whole book of Hebrews.

Keep it going, because every time you read it, something else will pop out to

you, something else new.

And so I just want to encourage you on that. But better, we want to be better

this year, not just in our behavior or in our attitudes, although we always

want to be better in both of those, but we want to be better in our relationship with Jesus Christ.

And how to be better in your relationship with Jesus Christ is to know Him better.

And I think as we study the Word of God and as we go through Hebrews,

you'll have a greater appreciation for exactly who Jesus is.

And so last week, we talked about how Jesus is better than the prophets,

the prophets of old, any prophets that would come along, anyone that would bring you a message.

Jesus has the best message. He's better than all those.

And today, I want to talk to you a little bit about better than angels,

which points us to God's son, to pay attention to Jesus.

You know, when I was a teenager, there was a song that came out that was written,

and the title of it was Angels Watching Over Me.

There's a couple different versions. I like the Oak Ridge Boys version,

but that was a different song.

And in this song, Angels Watching Over Me, Amy Grant kind of told this story,

and it was kind of a little bit, the song would kind of freak you out if you

thought angels were watching you all the time. I had a good message.

Angels were watching you, protecting you, keeping you from harm, doing battle for you.

But if I was a little kid at the time when this song came out,

I would have thought twice for this reason.

When you look at how angels are described in the Bible, it can freak you out a little bit.

The Bible talks about cherubim. Now, when you see little cherubs,

you see these little babies with wings.

They're usually naked little babies.

They've got wings. Those are called cherubs, but the Bible describes them different.

I've never seen them described as a fat little naked baby with wings.

But these cherubim are associated with God's presence and his holiness,

such as guarding the Garden of Eden and overshadowing the Ark of the Covenant.

And Ezekiel describes them this way, with a human-like form,

but four faces, one human, one lion, one ox, and one eagle.

They have four wings, straight legs with calf-like feet, and bodies accompanying

wheels covered with eyes.

That's a mouthful. But man, your imagination runs wild.

When you think about this, you think, those are watching over me all the time, Amy Grant?

Are you trying to freak me out here? Well, let's go on to seraphim.

In Isaiah's vision around God's throne, the seraphim were the ones crying,

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

Each seraph had six wings, two to cover the face, two to cover their feet,

but two are used for flying, and they emphasize the reverence,

humility, and readiness to serve the Almighty God.

Those are just a couple of descriptions, and our mind just goes wild with depictions of them.

We know about the archangel Michael and special angels like Gabriel to bring

special messages at certain times.

When you read through the Bible and you think about angels, you see that they

were there to minister to Elijah after a great battle on Mount Carmel.

And there he was just feeling defeated, even though he won the victory because

Jezebel threatened him.

And so angels were there to minister and to give him food to eat.

We also see in the Bible, as we think about angels, them bringing judgment,

and we think about Sodom and Gomorrah, there's a whole story there that has to do with angels.

And we know that angels are spiritual beings, but they can manifest themselves

so that we can see them, we can interact with them.

So good at interacting with us. Sometimes the scripture says we might be entertaining angels unaware.

And so we have these great spiritual beings that predate human beings.

These angels in our minds can just run wild with just imagining them.

We're fascinated with them in art. When you look at some of the classical art

pieces, how they depict angels, or fascinated with them maybe even in movies

and sentimental ideas about them.

I mean, we just got through Christmas and we know what happens when a bell rings,

according to the movie there.

An angel gets his wings. I don't think that's biblical, but that's what the movie said.

We just have this fascination with these spiritual beings. And when we think

about the book of Hebrews and who it was written to, it was written to Hebrews,

those people of Jewish descent, those people who had come through this and now had come to Christ.

And these people were weary. They were tired because they were being pressured.

They were being persecuted to come back to Judaism, to come back and to keep the law,

to come back and to do what the Old Testament said in keeping right with God

through the law that Jesus fulfilled and that Jesus said, that's the old one now.

They were tempted to go back. They were tempted to drift away from their faith

in Jesus Christ and to go back to what they were familiar with,

the routine, the sacrifices.

They were tempted to walk away from Jesus. And I believe the preacher here,

the writer of Hebrews, is starting to show us that we have got to trust the

one that is speaking to them, Jesus.

He's no mere messenger like an angel, but he is actually the royal son of God,

the fulfillment of all the Old Testament.

And so, when we think about these glorious servants of angels that serve God,

how much more glorious is the Son who commands those angels?

And so, as we read through this passage today, Hebrews 1, 4 through 14,

let's see what it says about Jesus the Son.

If you're willing and able, I invite you to stand with me as we honor God's Word in the reading.

Hear the Word of the Lord from Hebrews chapter 1.

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

So he, Jesus, became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son,

today I have become your father.

Or again, I will be his father and he will be my son.

And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says,

let all the angels worship him.

And speaking of the angels, he says, he makes his angels' winds and his servants' flames of fire.

But about the son, he says, your throne, O God, will last forever and ever,

and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom.

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore,

God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.

He also says, in the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth

and the heavens, the work of your hands.

They will perish, but you remain.

They will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe.

Like a garment, they will be changed, but you remain the same,

and your years will never end.

To which of the angels did God ever say, Sit at my right hand until I make your

enemies a footstool for your feet?

Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

Father, thank you for your word. And we ask, God, your spirit would just speak

to our hearts as we talk about this, as we meditate upon it today,

God, as we hear from your spirit, Lord, all the things that you would want us to know today.

Thank you for your words. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Thank you. You can be seated. And as we're thinking about this today,

this scripture passage shows us three ways that the Son is better than the angels.

He's got a greater name, he's got a better throne, and he's got a better mission.

And so let's jump into this in verses 4 through 6. Jesus inherited the name Son.

It marks him out as uniquely royal and divine, not merely just another heavenly

being that's been sent, but Jesus is the Son of God,

always has been the Son of God, and always will be the Son of God.

You see, in verse 4, the Scripture says that He has a more excellent name.

I went back to the 80s on this. Maybe it was the 90s. I don't know.

It all blurs together once you hit a certain age, right?

Do the name Bill and Ted have any resonance with anybody? All right.

Bill and Ted's excellent adventure. That's as far as I'll go with that illustration.

But we know excellent means the best. It means you've excelled to the highest

point that you can. man, Jesus has the highest name you could have amongst anyone.

You know, the name isn't just a name, right?

It's not just something to be known by, but the name of Jesus as the Son of

God, it denotes his status, that he is the Son of God.

It denotes his office.

As the Son of God, He has responsibilities. He has things that He has to do

as the Son of the Almighty.

And here we know the Son has publicly been decreed and publicly enthroned after His cross,

His death on the cross and the resurrection, that we know He sits,

as we said last week, sits at the right hand of the Father, that He is there ruling.

Philippians 2, 9-11 say this, Therefore God exalted him, talking about Jesus,

to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under

the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

I could tell you no angel has ever been enthroned as the king or called to sit

at God's right hand. no matter how mighty the angels are, Jesus is still better than the angels.

Jesus is still more exalted than the angels.

As a matter of fact, the scripture also says about this name,

son, as we looked in the scripture, verses five and six of Hebrews chapter one,

for to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son?

Today I have become your father.

To which of the angels did God say, hey, Gabriel, why don't you be my son?

No, that didn't happen. Gabriel had a purpose.

Even Michael, the archangel, he was not called the son of God. He was not called my son.

It's only Jesus that God calls my son.

It's the language of coronation again. It's that language, that royal language

of covenant, that this is my son and what he says today.

Is what I say. We think about this public installing of the Son into the Davidic king line, kingly line.

God is in no way taken for granted who Jesus is as the Son of God.

That's so powerful, this idea of sonship.

Now, you know, in the scripture, sometimes human beings are called the Son of

God, that we are sons of God in the line of God.

Some will say that Even angels have been called sons of God.

But the difference here is when God says, Jesus, you're my son.

You're my son. You're the same in essence.

You're the same as me. When I was in high school, I went out to California during

a summer break and went to Cayucos, California.

And there my aunt had a coast house and my cousins, we all were just hanging

out there. And the first thing my aunt says is, I could tell you're Eddie's son. My dad's name's Ed.

You're Eddie's son because the way you walk, you walk just like him.

I said, well, I never thought about that.

Sometimes there's traits that sons

have that just, I could tell you're the spitting image of your father.

When it comes to Jesus, that's exactly true.

As we said last week, Jesus is the exact imprint of God.

The son is the exact representation of who God is. I just want to ask you this

morning Jesus has a better name.

Sometimes we don't like our name because our name denotes maybe things that

we've done in the past that we're not proud of.

Maybe it denotes things that we're kind of ashamed of and we placed our identity

back there. And maybe we've had some failures.

Maybe we just didn't live up to who we were named after sometimes.

But the question that we ask ourselves is, who defines your identity?

Is your identity defined by what you do?

Sometimes people like to do that. Is it identified by who we associate with?

Well, sometimes that's true. And how we do things?

I know when I identify myself many times, it's Pastor Mike.

There's a lot of Mikes out there, and I just kind of try to differentiate myself

by saying, it's your pastor, if you can't recognize my voice on the phone.

We think about our identity. The scripture says our identity should be found

in the person of Jesus Christ.

That's where we find our identity. That's who we know who we are.

When we have baptisms, which by the way, next month we'll be having more baptisms

if anyone is interested in being baptized.

When you identify yourself publicly through baptism, it's identifying yourself

with the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

You're saying, I want to be like Jesus. I want to find myself in him, not in anything else.

Our sense of worth comes from who Jesus is, you guys.

Our sense of value comes from Jesus. And I just got to tell you,

Jesus thinks you're valuable.

Jesus knows that you're a person of worth because he died on the cross for you to save your life.

Because he wants to spend all eternity with you.

That's how valuable you are to God. It's how valuable you are to Jesus because

he took your punishment.

Because he loves you. The son has a better name. And if that name is above every

angel, what kind of kingdom must he rule in?

What's God's kingdom like? You see, Jesus not only has a better name,

a more excellent name than the angels, but Jesus, he sits on a better throne than the angels.

Angels, they're glorious servants, man. When you read in the New Testament,

how they appeared to like Mary and Joseph, how they appeared to the shepherds.

It's astounding. It's amazing.

People are in awe when they encounter an angel, sometimes very afraid, as the scripture says.

So these glorious servants, as glorious as they are, they don't meet up to the

incredible gloriousness of Jesus Christ, because Jesus is the Son,

and as the Son of God, He's eternal.

He's the righteous King, and He is the Creator.

And as it says in verse 7, describes angels as powerful and glorious.

It describes them as winds and flames.

Just the incredible magnitude of that. I remember there's a story in the Old

Testament, you probably know this too, about an angel standing with a fiery sword.

And Balaam and his donkey were trying to go somewhere. And in going somewhere,

they came to this pass where they had to go from one side to the other,

but the donkey wouldn't move.

And Balaam kept smacking that

donkey, kept doing everything to get that stubborn donkey to go across.

And finally, the donkey had enough. And it's amazing in scripture because the

donkey talks to Balaam and says, hey, dummy, that's my paraphrase.

You want me to keep going? Fine. But there's an angel standing over there with

a fiery sword ready to strike us down.

You want me to keep going? So we see these incredible images of the angels.

Fiery swords, as it describes here, winds and flames, but the angels are still creatures.

The angels are still created beings, the spiritual beings.

They've been created. They're not greater than the Creator. They're not greater than the,

And the scripture says that Jesus is the creator. Their glory,

the glory of the angels and the amazing things that they do,

it comes not from within themselves, but it derives from the throne of God.

It's borrowed from God who sends them out as messengers.

Says, Gabriel, I want you to go and I want you to tell this young maiden Mary,

I've got this great plan and she's going to be a part of it. Go tell Joseph.

God told the angel that he sent to stop Balaam. go.

But the glory was from God, not in and of themselves.

They were granted that power and authority from the Father to go and to do what

they were called to do there in those times.

But Jesus is all glory.

Jesus is all-powerful as the Son of God.

And we know that it says in verse 8 and 9, the Son's throne is eternal.

It's not just temporary.

The Son's throne will last forever, and his scepter that he rules with is righteousness.

Man, isn't that what we want? We want true righteousness to reign,

those things that are right.

We want people to do what's right. We want to be treated rightly.

And there's a time coming that that is going to be the case.

It's under the rule and the reign of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

When we think about the implication of this, Scripture said that Jesus loves

righteousness and he hates wickedness.

That's the kind of ruler, that's the kind of throne that he rules from.

You know, we have elections. People are already talking about the election later this fall.

You know, one party is going to lose the house and it's going to be chaos again

and trials and show trials and kangaroo courts and, you know,

people are already getting worked up about that.

We don't have to worry as believers because we know who rules the throne.

It's Jesus. We know we can trust him no matter what happens in the world,

good or bad, what we like or what we don't like.

We know that God is going to reign through Jesus eternally with righteousness,

the one who hates wicked.

His kingdom, Christ's kingdom is morally perfect, not merely powerful.

It's not just about throwing power around, but it's the power to do what's right.

And Christian, that's the great thing, is that in Christ, we have the power

to do what's right, to treat people right, to love the things that are good, to hate what is evil,

not to be chained into our sin any longer, but to be set free from that,

to live as Christ would have us to live.

The Son did that because He's reigning eternally on a throne that is righteous.

The son, we know it says in verse 10 and 12, he is the unchanging creator.

Never changes. You can always count on him.

The scripture said that basically creation wears out at ages.

You know, animals come and animals go.

Mountains, no matter how great

they are, an earthquake can shatter the rocks and send them tumbling.

The great winds eat and hit at the rocks until they collapse.

If you've ever driven up 55 or even 95 for that matter in the spring or even

in the winter, you see all these rocks all over the road.

You know, the forces of nature, the freezing that happens.

Creation withers. And as the scripture says, like a garment,

it's going to be rolled up one day and replaced.

But the unchanging Lord who laid the foundations of creation,

he's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

This is the sun, the unchanging sun. He's the creator.

Everything feels permanent to us, doesn't it?

I mean, if you lived here long enough...

My family gave me a great T-shirt a few years ago. It says, I remember when this used to be a field.

As we drive around, we realize that nothing is permanent in this valley is change.

Landscape's changing all the time. Cornfields are going away.

Potato fields are going away. And in comes a new multi-complex apartment complex

with, you know, stacked four or five high with a whole bunch of people that can be in them.

Things change all the time. We look to the earth and the sky.

We say, wow, some things might never change. They seem permanent.

But the scripture says, no, one day they're going to be rolled up.

They're going to be replaced.

I mean, even the scripture says of

creation that it groans as a woman in childbirth for the rebirth for it.

We could celebrate. We've been reborn. We've been renewed in our spirit.

But there's a new body coming to all of us. Praise the Lord.

Don't know where you're at in your New Year's resolutions, but praise the Lord.

Jesus has promised us a new body someday.

There's a newness that's coming, the recreation, if you will.

Jesus, the Son, is the unchanging creator.

So what does this mean for us? It means that we can have stability even in a

shaking world, even a world that always changes.

We can have stability when economies,

when governments, when personal circumstances are just crumbling.

We can stand firm in the unchanging hope that comes of our faith in Jesus Christ,

that not only will he get us through whatever we're going through,

but that Jesus will go along with us every single step of the way and that we are not alone.

When you get to the end of Hebrews, there's that promise that he will never

leave us, nor will he forsake us.

He'll never leave you alone or take you for granted.

That's something that you can count on. So there is stability in this world

as long as we're in Jesus Christ. Bring your fears under the scepter of his righteousness and,

He's a righteous and unshakable king. Guys, I want you to know you could trust

Jesus. Are you trusting him today?

Well, if this is the incredible God that we serve, the incredible Jesus,

and if he sits on this kind of righteous throne, what's the role of angels then?

What does God need angels still? And how does that affect us?

Well, it all goes back to the mission of the son.

You see, Jesus has a better mission and a better people than the angels.

Angels are given missions. Hey, I want you to go here. I want you to protect

this person. I want you to go and exact this judgment. I want you to do this.

The messengers of God. But the son, we know what his mission is.

The son reigns until every enemy is put under his foot.

Until the enemy sits beneath his feet like they're his footstool, as the scripture said.

Angels exist for this reason. For God's saving purpose for believers.

Did you catch that in the scripture as we read it today? Oh,

it's a powerful statement.

You see, we know through Jesus that the son's victory is already promised.

We know Jesus has already afforded the victory over sin, the victory over death,

the victory over the grave.

And we know that victory will reign for all eternity, though it doesn't feel like it at times.

Again, the scripture said, God said to his son, sit at my right hand until I

make your enemies a footstool.

Christ's reign is active. It's ongoing. It's moving history towards the final

defeat of all opposition.

Every single enemy we place under the authority of Jesus Christ, under his feet even.

This includes not only human rebellion, but sin, death, and every power that

exalts itself against the almighty God. But we know in verse 14,

it says the angels are ministering spirits.

Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit

salvation? Well, who inherits salvation?

Those who place their faith in Jesus Christ and in Christ alone.

Do you have faith in Jesus today? Are you trusting him?

God sends his angels. We don't know about it. We don't know the whole thing

to protect us, to minister to us. We can see evidence of that in the Old Testament.

Maybe you've been through something in life and you've encountered someone and

you say, man, I just, I wonder if that was an angel, just to the interaction that you had.

I remember telling you before about the time I almost drowned over at the fairgrounds in Boise.

And I still believe that was an angel that dove in and saved me.

Saved me from drowning that day when my dad was doing something else and I couldn't really swim.

I believe that's the angel that came and saved me. It'll be great to get to

heaven to see all the times when God saved us from things that we were totally unaware of.

Totally oblivious to you, totally thinking about something else and we were

in danger and didn't even know about it. But angels are sent to minister to us.

Just like Elijah of old, when he was down in the dumps, the angels came and

ministered to him to provide food for him, to provide rest for him,

to give him instruction from God.

Are not all angels ministering spirits, the scripture says.

The greatness of angels actually magnifies the greatness of the Son.

Jesus is so much greater than the angels.

How much more does Jesus take care of us? We think about the implications of

this. There's encouragement in this.

It means that the church is not forgotten or unprotected.

I'm sure that you've heard missionary stories of them just...

In a situation where their lives were threatened, where they were persecuted,

and calling out to God and people in other places praying for this village or this group of people.

And attackers come to kill everyone in this church, and for some reason they can't.

And the reason is there's angels protecting them.

Because the prayers of the saints in the locations where there was persecution

and threat taking place, but also in other lands where you are praying for people.

Folks, it's so important to pray for these names we have in your bulletin,

to pray for them, not just on Sunday when we meet together, but keep it with

your Bible and pray for them in your personal worship or devotion time.

Ask God to intervene on their behalf. The reign of Christ and His ministering

angels, it's for the good of those who belong to Him.

There's also a warning. If this kind of righteous king is reigning,

and such messengers like the

angels are serving the Son, ignoring His Word is not just a small thing.

It's treason against the throne.

To ignore the Word of God, the Almighty God, the Almighty righteous King,

it's to go against His will.

It's treasonous, especially when we know better.

Hebrews 2, as we'll get into next week, says, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

There's good news that Jesus is better than the angels.

Great news for us because we know he's the son of God. He's the king.

He has the authority of God because he is God.

So we ought to pay attention to what he's saying. I mean, think about it.

He knows everything about you and he still loves you.

He knows everything that you've ever done.

He still loves you. He knows where your life will end, and he's got a plan for you for all eternity.

So we need to pay attention to what he says and what he says to us.

Folks, we need to listen to a better word and trust the son.

Hey, the world's pretty good salespeople when it comes to things that appeal

to the lust of the flesh, to the lust of the eyes, to the pride of life.

The world's a good salesperson on this. Hey, you need this.

You need that person. You need to do this in order to be right with God.

When all you need to do is you need to trust God and follow his word, what he says.

Listen to the better word, not the angels of fallen messengers,

fallen angels that want to deceive you, of not only false prophets that want

to give you a message that's different than what's revealed in the scripture.

Trust God and trust what he says and do what he says.

See, the son has a better name. He has a better throne and he has a better mission than any angel.

Therefore, his word carries greater weight than any message the angels ever delivered.

And so let's trust the words of Jesus.

Let's trust what he says to us.

This morning, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ here, and maybe you're drifting

or you just feel like your relationship with Christ is going nowhere,

I just want to encourage you, stop treating the sun like a distant idea.

Yeah, I accepted Christ once. Well, that's great, but where's your relationship

been since then? Keep it going.

You know, if I had met a famous person one time, and then I went around all

over town saying how well I knew this famous person, would you believe me?

Probably not. But if I pulled up on my cell phone and I dialed the number because

I was good friends with this famous person.

And I put him on speakerphone and I said, hey, my friend's here and I want you

to say hi to him. Oh yeah, Mike, no problem.

Hey, how you doing? I'm calling from wherever.

Then you would believe me, right?

So if you know Jesus, what did he tell you this morning when you had conversation with him?

What did he tell you this week when you were struggling? When it seemed like

life was just hitting a dead end?

Did you seek him? If you know him, you seek him out, right? What did his word say to you?

What did God's word, how did it

encourage you this week as you had your personal prayer time with Jesus?

Folks, what I want you to do if you're a believer in Christ,

you feel like you're drifting or your relationship is just dull,

bend your knee again, bow to Jesus as your present king right now,

not just for some future kingdom, but right now Christ is reigning. Return to his word.

Return to his people. Return to his mission. Get about the busyness, the mission of God.

Maybe you're here this morning and you don't really believe in Jesus.

You're checking it out, but you're just not sure about all this Jesus stuff.

I want you to know that this king that we're talking about, the son of God,

whose scepter is righteousness, he's going to judge all people.

And right now he offers mercy.

Come to him now while that door is open, the door of salvation.

Don't wait any longer because anytime that door could close and in place of

the mercy will be judgment.

The judgment that is due all people, everywhere. But if we find ourself in Christ,

we know we find his mercy, we find his forgiveness, and we find his favor.

In just a minute, we're going to start sharing in the Lord's Supper together.

It represents the victory that we have in Jesus, the victory that Jesus provided

for all people everywhere with his death on the cross.

And as we eat the little wafer, that represents the bread that Jesus broke on

the night that he was betrayed.

We realize that Christ's body

was broken so that our bodies we could be made whole so that we could be healed

we realize that by the blood that was poured out as we drink the juice the pure

blood of Jesus we realize that it's that blood that has blotted out all the

sins of those who trust in Christ who place their faith in Christ.

Have you done that today? If you have, it's a time of celebration because we celebrate the victory.

Now, I know there's been some great football games on. It's going to be a good one Monday, I'm sure.

But even in the playoffs here, one team wins and one doesn't.

There's no ties in the championship games. But I want to tell you,

with Jesus, you're on the winning team.

There's no cheating refs in this game.

Jesus just won the victory already. We know the outcome of it.

And that's what we celebrate today.

Now, we don't celebrate with champagne, all right? We're Nazarenes.

We don't drink alcohol, all right?

We don't celebrate with anything other than lifting up Jesus and saying,

look what Jesus did when he was high and lifted up and died on a cross for all of us.

And we think about this.

Just want you to ask the Lord, God, how can I be closer to you?

I'll close with this before we take communion. I was watching a video that Brother

Steve had sent me about near-death experiences and those that were believers

and how many commonalities there are with people who have came close to death, maybe even died,

and then, quote-unquote, came back from heaven.

And one of the things he said on this, and it just got me thinking,

what if your proximity to the

throne of God in heaven was based on how close you were to God on earth.

I'm not saying that's what it is, but I'm saying it just is a thought,

something to think about.

Man, wouldn't you want to be very close to God, the Father, if you're going

to be there for all eternity?

Close to his throne of grace.

We don't want to be someone that's far off. Man, when you go to a concert or

you go to a football game, you want the best seats in the house.

Boy, I think if we're going to be in heaven for an eternity.

We want the best place in the house, the best place closest to God.

So let's concentrate. Let's listen to the better word and let's trust him and

do what he says. Will you pray with me?

Father, thank you for your word today. We know the son is better than the prophets.

We know the son is better than the angels.

Although in Philippians, it says that he was set a little lower than the angels

through the incarnation.

God, we also know that he was exalted because of his death, burial,

and resurrection, victorious over sin and death.

And Lord, that's what we're going to celebrate as we partake of these elements.

So Lord, I pray you'd bless this time as you have already in this service,

but Lord, bless these elements here.

Lord, as we take of them, we take of them in victory, the victory that Jesus

has afforded each one of us, victory over sin.

One day we know for each of us, victory over death, or no victory over that grave.

And Father, we look forward to spending that time with you, God,

through all eternity, as close to you as we can get.

And Father, we pray that you'll be glorified. Lord, if there's someone here

this morning not sure of their relationship with you, I pray,

God, by the end of this service before they leave, God, that they will make

things right with you, God.

They'll lay down their pride, lay down their sin, and Lord, take up the mantle

of forgiveness and righteousness that you provide and that you offer to all

of those who ask forgiveness.

So, Lord, be with us in these next few moments as we celebrate the supper that

Jesus instituted for us. It's in his name we pray.

Amen. I want to thank you for joining today's sermon podcast.

You can find a copy of today's sermon as well as other sermons and the sermon

outlined from today on our church's website www.mvcnaz.org.

It is my prayer also that you will seek out a church home that recognizes the authority of the Bible.