[0:00] What a day, glorious day, that will be. Amen. You may be seated.
[0:11] Are we looking forward to that day? What a day that will be. Amen. I was looking at that song earlier, so thanks for picking that. It's a blessing and a joy to be here this morning.
[0:25] Greet you all in Jesus' name. I've been struggling some with which message to preach. I've had two different things in my heart.
[0:37] Or one thing in particular, and then I also had another thing. So I think I'm going to just go ahead and share some out of Colossians chapter 1.
[0:48] If you want to turn there to start with, we won't go there right away. But the title of my message this morning is, We the People or the Revelation of Jesus Christ?
[1:04] I know that's a different title. But hopefully I can explain a little bit more as we go through the message of why that title.
[1:20] We the People or by the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Who is in charge of the church? And how does she function as a body of Christ?
[1:34] Now we all know that Jesus Christ is the head of his church. We know that as a fact. But how did this happen?
[1:50] Was he voted in somehow by a governing body? Who decided that Christ should be the head and the king?
[2:01] You know, the culture in the early church, they didn't have this thing called we the people. For the most part. They had kings and they had governors and magistrates and there was kingdoms that were set up and you didn't have a whole lot of heart in that.
[2:22] In the U.S. or in America, we have a thing called we the people. We're government by the people for the people, right? And sometimes in thinking about this in the last year or two, I'm afraid that the church in America has largely been influenced by that thought that we are governed by we the people in the church.
[2:53] And we forget that it's a kingdom. There's a king that calls the shots. He's in charge. Whether we like it or not.
[3:08] And as we go through this a little bit more, just keep in mind that the man that wrote the Bible, the New Testament, did not have that concept like we do today.
[3:21] And I'm not saying that we the people is wrong for our government, even though there's debate about that. One man told me recently here in church that democracies never work.
[3:35] People destroy themselves eventually. Give me something to think about. It's a man that comes here occasionally. But I'll leave that.
[3:46] That's not my message. I'm not talking about the government of the United States. I'm glad that we're in a free nation and that we have freedom, lots of freedoms. And the way it was set up by the founding fathers, I'm not going to judge that or say that it was wrong.
[4:03] But that mindset in the church has, I believe, brought a lot of destruction, a lot of misconceptions and wrong ideas of the church.
[4:18] Because the church is a kingdom. It's God's kingdom on earth. And we are subject to a king.
[4:29] We don't get to decide. That's the heart of what I'm trying to say. In Colossians 1, verse 13, I appreciated the opening today.
[4:43] It was mentioned about the heart of God several times. In verse 13, it says, Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.
[5:11] For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
[5:22] All things were created by Him and for Him. Wow. If that doesn't sound like a king, someone in charge, someone that is over all, above all, and in all.
[5:41] And He is before all things, and by all, I'm sorry, by Him all things consist. Nothing even works without Him.
[5:57] Everything is from Him. And He, this God, is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things, He might have the preeminence.
[6:17] You see where this is going? There's a king, and He is the head. He is in charge. He is above all. He has the preeminence.
[6:29] We don't get to decide. But that thing about we deciding and we making the rules and we making, you know, running the church, how we think is so preeminent in our nation, in the churches in our nation.
[6:50] And it influences us how we think, I'm afraid. And we forget that, no, no, we have a king. He has spoken. He has given us His word.
[7:02] He has told us what we need to believe and how we need to live. It's up to us to receive it or we can reject it. And by Him all things consist.
[7:16] Thank you. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have preeminence.
[7:35] For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. Again, I come back to conversations I've had with Jehovah's Witnesses about Jesus being an angel or a created being.
[7:54] How do you get around that verse? That in Him, in Christ, shall all fullness dwell. I can't even comprehend those words fully.
[8:06] What does that mean? In Him should all fullness dwell. Are we fulfilled this morning in Christ? Did we find fulfillness?
[8:19] Are we full? Do we have everything we need? Or do we have an empty life? If we have an empty life, then we're certainly not fulfilled in Christ.
[8:30] because in Him is all fullness. In verse 20, And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself, by Him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.
[8:55] And you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind, by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight.
[9:15] Through Him, through this Christ, He can present us holy and unblameable, righteous in the sight of God.
[9:27] You know, I'm going to say that if a group of people come together to worship or to have church, but they don't care about obeying this King, they don't care about the heart of God.
[9:53] I was so blessed by that song this morning, near to the heart of God. And they don't care about the will of God. And they're not in the will of God.
[10:08] In fact, they may not even be a part of His church. Jesus said, my sheep know my voice and they won't follow a stranger.
[10:21] They'll follow Him. God's true church cares deeply about the heart and desire of God, of their God.
[10:32] So much so that they are willing to die for that. Are we willing to die for Him and for His truth, for His Word? There was a church sign recently.
[10:53] I heard this from another preacher on our trip to Ohio the other week, but there was a church sign that said, it's all about Jesus. And I forget which preacher it was that was saying this, but oh, it was Abe from Mexico.
[11:15] He read that sign in Ohio somewhere. It's all about Jesus. And he preached a whole message off that phrase, I guess.
[11:27] Is it really all about Jesus? Because Jesus is the Word. This is His book. This is His Word. Is it all about the Bible?
[11:37] You'd have to include the Bible then. You say that, right? Do we really believe that? Or do we kind of single out some things and say, well, we believe this, this chapter right here, this is what makes us different than the other churches and we're better, we have this down pat.
[11:55] But then we skip whole other chapters. Is it really all about Jesus? If it is, then this, it's all about the book. Just something that came to my mind right now, remembered.
[12:11] So I'm talking about the church. Is He our head? And if He is, who are we?
[12:23] Who are we then? If He's our King, if He's the firstborn, then who are we? He, that means He's our brother. He's the firstborn of many brethren, it says.
[12:38] So in Christ, we have security, we have comfort, we have joy, we have, we become co-heirs brothers, with Christ.
[12:54] We become part of that kingdom. It's not like He's a king and He's a dictator and we're just slaves under Him.
[13:05] No, no, He makes us His brothers. What did Jesus say? They came and said, your mother and your brothers are outside waiting on you.
[13:17] They want to see you. What did He say? He said, who is my mother? Who's my brother? Does anyone want to answer that question? He asked the question but then He explained it, didn't He?
[13:32] What did He say? Anyone? Yeah, we that do the will of the Father. Those that do the will of the Father, those are my mother, my brother, my sister.
[13:49] Just in my own words there. See the importance of being part of this kingdom? Now let's look at some more in our personal lives, how this affects our personal life.
[14:07] Question, is it by my will or by my might or is it by the revelation of Jesus in my life? Is finding His will in my life or my life more important to me than anything else?
[14:24] Is His heart what my heart seeks after? To know what the will of the Lord is. Do I love God more than myself with all my heart, all my mind, and all my strength?
[14:43] Now let's go to Galatians chapter 1 and get some more of what Paul is saying. See what Paul says about this gospel.
[15:01] These are all very familiar verses. But in verse 1 Paul says, Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead and all the brethren which are with me unto the churches of Galatia.
[15:21] Grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ who gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father to whom be glory forever and ever.
[15:41] Amen. I marvel that you are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel which is not another but there are some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
[15:57] But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed. As we said before so say I now again if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that we have than I'm sorry unto you than that ye have received let him be accursed.
[16:23] For do I now persuade men or God or do I seek to please men for if I yet please men I should not be the servant of Christ but I certify you brethren that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man for I neither received it of man now he's talking about the gospel of Jesus that saved him I neither received it of man neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
[17:01] How did we receive Christ? How did we in that final moment of coming to Christ the first time wasn't it also by revelation of Jesus Christ when we had a picture of who Christ is?
[17:19] For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews religion how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and I wasted it.
[17:33] Paul speaking he's just saying he wasted the church he destroyed it. Verse 14 And profited in the Jews religion above many my own equals in my own nation being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal his son in me glory to God to reveal his son in me is this our testimony that I might preach him among the heathen immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood he did not confer with flesh and blood but I wanted to look at that verse 16 to reveal his son in me this God when it pleased him the God who created him in his mother's womb and called him by his grace he that God revealed the son in him in Paul this revelation of Jesus
[18:43] I know we talk about this sometimes about the need for Christ to be revealed in us to us is that not the very core of Christianity to know the son to know Jesus but is he revealed in our lives you know sometimes I know churches they some of again you know churches tend to do all kinds of crazy things to try to make church appealing to make so that young people keep coming they lose their young people there's statistics in the church in America that young people just don't want to go to church anymore it's not fun enough so what do they do they try to make it fun they have music festivals and I don't know what all they have but a lot of different things for entertainment and I'm not saying everything's bad but but a lot of just flesh to try to appease but church
[19:49] I'm telling you this morning telling us that God wants his son to be revealed to our young people and our young people need to see that in us older ones that's the solution that's God's solution that's God's word that's reality if Jesus is revealed and if he's real and alive who doesn't want that who's not looking for reality not the fake stuff and all the other exciting things that you go home from those type of things you're empty you're just empty there's no reality there but if Jesus is real in brother Dan's life and brother Joe and so on and he is revealed in you he is you are hearing from him and you're excited about it and young men and young ladies the same thing that's reality that's the church of Jesus Christ is that happening that's the challenge this morning is Christ being real in our lives it's the work of the Holy
[21:07] Spirit really that's the work and the job of the Holy Spirit to bring that revelation to us to bring that heart of God into any situation has the Son of God been revealed to us let's look at a few other questions how has the Holy Spirit spoken to you this past week I'm going to put myself right in there with you let's just think about our past week maybe the last two weeks or three or whatever hopefully we can get this to where we say has the Holy Spirit spoken to me today not in the last week but has he spoken to us when's the last time that we had a new and a fresh revelation of who Jesus is in our lives something that was real in our lives has that revelation changed something in your life has it shown you the will of God in a new or a deeper way what does it mean to have the revelation of Jesus maybe when we're in trouble maybe when we're going through a hard time or a tough decision we really need God's will don't we we need to get nearer to the heart of God and allow him to reveal himself his will his plan his purpose it's hard because we want to be in control we want to make it happen and make sure it gets done right right that's our nature but God wants to reveal his will and his way being in the word of God is certainly a big part of that knowing the word of God
[23:19] I want to read some names of the of Jesus this Christ this head some names in the New Testament I have a hundred of them but I don't think I might have time for all of them so I might skip a few but for just for the sake of time some are very similar but the disciples after personally experiencing the authority and power of Jesus as he spoke peace to a raging sea they were left sitting in the stillness wet from the rain wondering who is this man even the winds and the waves obey him that's what they said in Matthew over and over again the Bible answers this amazing question by giving us glimpses of the character of Jesus through the names and the descriptions that we find of him these are all from the New
[24:22] Testament in John it says he's our advocate revelation says almighty and I'm not going to give all the references but he's the Alpha and Omega he's the Amen apostle he's the apostle of our profession in Hebrews atoning sacrifice for our sins author of life author and perfecter of our faith author of salvation beginning and end blessed and only ruler in Timothy bread of God bread of life chief cornerstone chief shepherd Christ creator deliverer eternal life everlasting father gate faithful and true faithful witness faith and true witness first and last first born from the dead
[25:23] God oh yes he's that too God a lot of verses that go to that one good shepherd great shepherd great high priest head of the church heir of all things high priest holy and true holy one hope hope of glory horn of salvation I am image of God king eternal king of Israel king of the Jews king of kings king of the ages lamb lamb of God lamb without blemish last Adam we know who the first Adam was Jesus last Adam life light of the world line of the tribe of Judah living one living stone Lord Lord of all Lord of glory Lord of Lords Lord of our righteousness man from heaven mediator of the new covenant mighty
[26:30] God morning star offspring of David only begotten son of God our great God and savior our holiness our husband our protection our redeemer our righteousness our sacrificed Passover lamb power of God precious cornerstone prince of peace prophet resurrection and life righteous branch righteous one rock root of David ruler of God's creation ruler of the kings of the earth savior son of David son of God son of man son of the most high God source of eternal salvation for all who obey him in Hebrews the one mediator the stone the builders rejected true bread true light true vine truth he's the way wisdom of God wonderful counselor word and he's the word of God
[27:43] I think that was about a hundred perhaps one of the greatest treasures is to also know him as our friend do we know this Jesus which of these names is he in your life are we experiencing all that Christ is I have to think of that verse in John 12 it says or is it John 5 12 I think it is he who hath the son hath life he who hath not the son of God hath not life let's turn to Hebrews chapter one yet God who in sundry times and in divers manners various manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets the
[29:00] Hebrew writer is telling us that God in the past in the old he spoke to us how through God's prophets verse two hath in these last days spoken unto us by who his son his son it is all about Jesus whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power when he made when he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high being made much better than the angels as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they verse two hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son those are some precious words that's the savior that's the lord that we can have in our hearts today that I trust you have in your heart and me in mine has
[30:25] Christ spoken to us does he still speak to us is his voice even important to us and are we willing to listen or do we listen to other voices and we can't hear Christ maybe we're listening to our own voice our own thoughts what an idol that would be can't hear Christ Jesus wants his people to be in tune and to stay in tune with him 24 7 that's his will that's near to the heart of God my sheep know my voice Jesus said he said I'm the good shepherd I want to be your shepherd I want to be your leader your guide what a difference it would make in the church of
[31:27] Jesus Christ in all local churches what a difference it would make if Christ would be continuously revealed to his people when being tempted to sin we would remember the Lord's heart and that he died to save us from that sin that sin we're tempted with put him on the cross makes us think twice about those things do we care before we use his name in vain the revelation of his almighty name will speak to us or after we do something like that we'll be quick to repent the holy spirit will prompt us will convict us before we misuse his day the Lord's day we will remember his commandment to keep it holy and to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together but to worship as he commanded many multitudes do not obey
[32:38] Christ in these things and they all have good excuses but they're only excuses is Christ really your master is he my master do I fear him do I worship him do I care about his heart and what he loves do I hate what he hates can he give us an order or a task and count on it being done that's what a servant is right when the night we heard about the servant the I forget the name in the Bible but the centurion that came to Jesus and he understood order he understood that if Jesus would just speak it'll be done can that happen in our life Jesus speaks yep
[33:39] I'll do it right because I'm his servant I believe in him I trust him I live for him you know we sang another song this morning about oh how I love Jesus and as we were singing that I was thinking just about my own life will he say that about me we can say that we love Jesus that's not hard but can I live a life that I am confident that he will say like you did to David this is a man after my own heart that Jesus will say Tim you love Jesus we can always say that but does he say that about us Christ Christ can consider it done when he asks us for something of us without complaining but with cheerfulness
[34:44] God loves a cheerful giver right sometimes there's a lot of complaining goes on in the church not saying that about us here I don't know that but you hear it in quote Christian people there's just a lot of complaining and sometimes I'm guilty of that God loves a cheerful giver what about surrendering to God's order you know there's all kinds of things when we think about the heart of God about the revelation of God and what that does when we are struggling when we are maybe having a hard time with obeying something or something that God is asking of us but when that revelation of who he is hits us in reality it's not hard anymore right all of a sudden we're like no this is the king
[35:48] I'm part of this kingdom so it becomes if our heart has been translated into the kingdom of light then we have a new heart and it becomes spiritually it becomes natural to want to follow Christ the old nature is dead right and we're alive into a new nature and the other thought I had on all of this is you know we can take the word of God and many people do they'll take the word of God the Bible and they'll read it and they'll say oh I need to obey that yeah that's what the Bible says and I just know that so I'll have to obey that but in itself there's no connection we're just afraid not to but there's no real revelation of Jesus but when that revelation of
[36:48] Jesus I'm not saying you shouldn't obey the Bible anyway but to have a true revelation and understand the heart of God at least in a greater level than before where we understand that that God has a plan and a purpose for us in this scripture and it's to please him it's to satisfy our creator it's for his glory that we obey him not to try to just give ourselves a pat on the back that now we did it again maybe that things like communion and things that we look at as commandments in the Bible we don't want to get away from those things at all but what I'm saying is do we really get a glimpse of God's heart in it and his desire for his people and not just some symbolic thing that we just do because we've always done it but no there's real life in
[37:55] Jesus in that revelation of Jesus again is it we the people do I get to decide or is it because of a revelation of Jesus Christ there's a big difference in God's kingdom on what our thought is about that and God has established his church his way and he desires to be the head church leaders are not the head of the church we're just servants too Christ is the head he purchased the church he bought he owns it he owns us Paul said he's a slave to him in a good way not in a bad way are you slave to
[38:55] Christ amen let's pray father we just come to you at this time Lord Jesus and we thank you for your word thank you Lord that you are our head that you are the head of your body that you died for Lord I pray that our hearts would be in tune with you and that our hearts would say yes to your will and yes to your word Lord that we would be people that would surrender and would want to make you Lord of our life Lord we desire a deeper and more often revelation of who you are Lord as we think of your many wonderful names the word says that it only scratches the surface and that if all the books were written about you this earth couldn't contain it all
[40:04] Lord we marvel at your creation we marvel at your goodness your amazing love your awesomeness your greatness your holiness Lord we just feel like I feel this morning like I barely know how great you are yet we do know you so Lord we thank you this morning we worship you we worship your name and who you are Lord Jesus Lord may you come and give us more life more abundantly perhaps in a deeper way than we've experienced before so that we too can be overcomers that we could remain faithful in this world that we live in this dark place we need we need the revelation of Jesus may your spirit minister
[41:08] Lord to our hearts this morning for your honor and your glory for your eternal purposes we pray in Jesus name amen after again we will you now we have one month He wants toун He songs