read as the exordium of Hebrews, describing Jesus as radiance of God's glory and exact representation of his nature
1 God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,
2 has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.
3 His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, who, when he had by himself purified us of our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
4 having become so much better than the angels, as he has inherited a more excellent name than they have.
read as a parallel Christ passage describing Jesus as image of the invisible God, agent of creation, and reconciler of all things
15 who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16 For by him all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and for him.
17 He is before all things, and in him all things are held together.
18 He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
19 For all the fullness was pleased to dwell in him;
20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself, by him, whether things on the earth, or things in the heavens, having made peace through the blood of his cross.
read in full as the Old Testament suffering servant song, applied throughout to Jesus and connected to the Dead Sea Scrolls Isaiah scroll
1 Who has believed our message? To whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him.
4 Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he didn’t open his mouth.
8 He was taken away by oppression and judgment; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and stricken for the disobedience of my people?
9 They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days, and Yahweh’s pleasure will prosper in his hand.
11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light and be satisfied. My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself; and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I give him a portion with the great, and he will divide the plunder with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was counted with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
read at communion as an honorable mention passage describing justification through Christ as propitiation
21 But now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, being testified by the law and the prophets;
22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction,
23 for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;
24 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus;
25 whom God sent to be an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God’s forbearance;
26 to demonstrate his righteousness at this present time; that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
The sermon returned to Philippians 2, a passage the preacher had also used the previous week at a service held at the county fair. The core of the message was that the humiliation and exaltation of Jesus described there does not stand alone in scripture - it is part of a pattern that runs from Isaiah through John, Hebrews, Colossians, and Peter. The preacher worked through five passages to show how they all point to the same person and the same story.
What was said
The Philippians 2 text was read first as the anchor. The preacher walked through the logic Paul uses: since there is consolation in Christ, since there is comfort in love and fellowship in the Spirit, the natural response is unity, humility, and treating others as better than yourself. That posture is grounded not in a self-improvement program but in the example of someone who was God and chose to empty himself, take on the form of a servant, and die the most shameful death available. God then exalted him above every name.
From there the preacher moved to John 1:1-18, noting that in a chronological Bible this passage comes before Genesis because the Word already existed before creation. The point pressed was that the one who stepped into human flesh and was largely rejected was the same one through whom everything was made. He read through the prologue carefully, pausing at the line about the darkness not grasping the light and at the moment when John says "we saw his glory."
Hebrews 1:1-4, which the preacher called the exordium, was presented as a compact summary of everything the sermon was covering. He pointed out that the center of what he described as a chiastic construction is verse three, where Jesus is called the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his nature, upholding all things by the word of his power. The preacher noted that Jesus did not just start creation spinning and step back - he is still actively holding it together.
First Peter 2:22-25 and Colossians 1 were read in quick succession. The Peter passage was connected directly back to Philippians, particularly the line about Jesus not insulting in return while being abused, and the preacher tied it to the moment on the cross when one of the two criminals turned to Jesus and was told he would be in paradise that day. Colossians pressed the same point about Jesus being the agent of creation and the one in whom all things hold together, while adding that God's full intention was for all the fullness of the Godhead to dwell in him.
Isaiah 53 was saved for last among the passages. The preacher introduced it by mentioning the Isaiah scroll found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, which he said silenced arguments that the text had drifted far from its original form. He then read all twelve verses, slowing down at the details that he said map directly onto the Philippians passage - the despising, the silence before accusers, the wounds, the grave assigned with the wicked but the burial with a rich man. He noted that Peter quotes Isaiah 53 almost directly, which in his reading settles any question about who the passage describes.
The sermon moved into communion from Isaiah 53:10-12, with the preacher pointing to the "therefore" that mirrors the "therefore" in Philippians 2 - because of the suffering and the bearing of sin, God gave him a portion with the great and exalted his name. A short passage from Romans 3 was read at the table, focusing on propitiation, and the preacher opened communion to anyone who has placed faith in Christ while praying for those in the room who had not.
Touch points
Things you could actually do this week.
Write down John 1:1-18, Isaiah 53, or one of the other passages mentioned and read it every day this week.
If you are in your twenties or know someone who is, show up to Seeking Truth in Your Twenties tonight at 6:30 on Roberta Drive.
Look up the Old Bill's Fun Run giving link on the First Baptist website after August 14 and give to the Benevolence Fund.
Pray for Anders and Brooke, for the camp construction in Zambia, for local Zambian volunteers to come alongside the ministry, and for a peaceful election there on August 13.
If you have been putting off faith in Christ, find someone sitting near you this week who can show you what Jesus looks like, as the speaker asked the congregation to be that witness.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Anders and Brooke shared how staying in Zambia for fifteen months without returning to the States allowed the kids to trust them and open up in deeper ways. What does that kind of long-term presence cost a person, and where have you seen that kind of patient investment pay off in your own life or community?
The preacher described a friend who said after losing his wife that he felt like he understood Jesus but could not understand Father God at all. Have you ever felt that gap yourself, and how has looking at Jesus helped or not helped you understand the Father?
El pastor predicó por segunda vez sobre Filipenses 2, su texto favorito en toda la Escritura. Explicó que ese pasaje describe cómo Cristo, siendo verdaderamente Dios, se vació a sí mismo, tomó forma de siervo y se humilló hasta morir en una cruz. Por eso Dios lo exaltó y le dio el nombre que es sobre todo nombre. A partir de ahí, el pastor mostró cómo otros pasajes del Nuevo Testamento y del Antiguo Testamento cantan la misma verdad sobre quién es Jesús.
Recorrió cinco pasajes que llaman a ese texto de Filipenses como un eco o un anticipo. En todos ellos aparece el mismo retrato: Jesús es el agente de la creación, la imagen exacta del Padre, el que cargó nuestros pecados en su cuerpo, el que no abrió la boca ante sus acusadores, y el único por medio del cual podemos ser reconciliados con Dios. El pastor señaló que Isaías 53, escrito setecientos años antes de la cruz, describe con detalle lo que le sucedería a Cristo, y que el hallazgo del rollo de Isaías entre los Manuscritos del Mar Muerto confirmó que ese texto no había sido alterado.
El servicio cerró con la Cena del Señor. El pastor invitó a todos los que han puesto su fe en Cristo a participar de la mesa abierta, y oró por quienes todavía no lo han hecho, pidiendo que la vida de los creyentes cercanos les muestre cómo es Jesús.
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Pasajes bíblicos usados
Filipenses 2:1-11
Juan 1:1-18
Hebreos 1:1-4
1 Pedro 2:22-25
Colosenses 1:15-20
Isaías 53:1-12
Romanos 3:21-26
Read the full transcript7,696 words
Good morning, everybody. Can you hear me? Alright. Good. We're gonna get rolling here in just a minute.
This is Jesse. Jesse is here kind of pinch hitting, guest leading for us this morning. Certainly capable. He and his wife are in what do you call that land? Kosovo.
Okay. Just making sure we could say that out loud. He's in Kosovo as missionary and he is here this morning to lead us in song. Would you stand? And we will start off with great are you lord.
Hey. You guys can have a seat real quick. We're gonna do some quick announcements. Thank you all for being here. Welcome to First Baptist Church in Jackson.
There's always a lot going on. Our first announcement is there's a group called Seeking Truth in Your Twenties, which meets tonight at 06:30 Oh, there it goes. And Roberta Drive, if you're in your twenties or you know somebody in your twenties, send them up there. We'd love to have them. Food is provided.
Great conversations, lots in-depth moments out there with those folks. And the First Baptist Church Benevolence Fund is funded through Old Bill's Fun Run. If you've never been to Old Bill's Fun Run, it's a hoot. There's all kinds of non profits that meet for a run up on town square and it's a blast. And we raise a good portion of our money for the Benevolence Fund which we use to give away Pretty much every day, we're giving money away to folks who need a bus ticket out of town, emergency housing, food, medical help, all those kinds of things.
Sincerely, we gave away $138,173.41 last year. Praise God. It's amazing to be able to say yes, and with your help, we'll be able to do it again this year. Giving season starts here in August. I believe it's August 14.
There won't be no links or anything available until then. But at that point, I'll put that on the website so you can give or go to the community foundation. Help us to say yes to as many people as possible. And speaking of making it possible for people to say yes, would you mind moving towards the center of the aisle and clear up some of these empty seats so that the people who are still coming in can have a place to seat. So if you'd move towards the center, that'd be great.
And would you stand up, greet everybody, and we'll bring you back with some music.
The
for
I think we believe he's working even if we don't know it. We don't know
exactly the details of his work. Let's praise him
whether we know it or not. The work that he's doing. Even when I don't see that you're working, even when I
As ushers are coming forward, would you all pray with me? Lord God almighty, thank you for your goodness. We've sung about it, Lord. We've cried it out together. And Lord, we believe it.
It is your breath in our lungs, and we pour out our praise, Lord. I pray that what we would what we do, Lord, would bring other people into a relationship with you. In Jesus name, we pray that we would be a part, Lord, of the plan for somebody that you put in our circle. So Lord, we pray for this offering right now that as you as you do what only you can do and direct, and orchestrate and superintend. Lord, I pray that we would be obedient.
Humble and obedient service is what we want, Lord. We want to be doing your will and your way. Would you show us the way? In Jesus name, accept these gifts, Lord. Bless them, multiply them.
Gift and giver in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Will you play something pretty? Thank you.
Amen. We have a we have a whole lot of missionaries here this morning. I was just looking around and seeing folks. And so I'm gonna invite a couple of them up, Anders and Brooke, and they've got a little bit of an update, maybe an invite. We'll see.
And I'll hand off to y'all, and then I'll jump back up here. Thank you.
Hey, everyone. It's so good to be in front of you all. My name is Anders. This is my wife, Brooke. We live in Livingston, Zambia, and we've been there for the past fifteen months.
And we just wanna share an update of what the Lord is doing through us.
Yeah. So we work with an organization called Jesus Zone Youth Africa. And just a reminder for those who don't know, it was started in 2006 by a Zambian couple. There's our Zambian couple, Sanderson and his wife Louendo, and they just wanted to serve the needs of their community. And they noticed that the youth were pretty neglected by the church in Livingston, so they just started collecting them and preaching to them.
And then since, it has grown to what it is today. And we have our three main branches, j zone water, j zone rural discipleship, and then j zone youth outreach. Yeah. So j zone youth outreach is what we do mostly. If it'll ever go to the next slide, you'll see our weekly ministries we participate in.
There we go. So we're in four schools a week, a low income preschool, two village primary schools, and then a town secondary school. And we meet with them, and we do kinda like a good news club, young life type program where we play games and sing and dance, but then they also get a Bible lesson geared towards their age group and what their schools are going through. We also run a community pantry. So in the top corner, that's one of our food parcels that a family will receive.
We give out about 10 a month, as well as something called mother's bags so that women can deliver safely in a hospital or clinic. So their children can get birth certificates and their children can go to school. It's it's a great cycle. And when we have free time, we volunteer with our rural discipleship group as well, and we go out to those hard to reach villages and help them encourage the Bible study hubs they had already set up. This last year, first b actually was able to donate three bicycles to our, main role pastors who used to walk about fifteen, twenty kilometers a day.
Now they can ride some bicycles and be able to get home for dinner with their families which is great. We also do a Saturday weekend club and we show up in a neighborhood
I'm not ready yet.
A Saturday weekend club where we show up in one of the neighborhoods and just start playing some music. Kids roam out of every nook and cranny of that neighborhood and we sing and we dance and we tell them about Jesus, give them snacks, and send them home. This last year, that we're able to be there for fifteen months without coming back to The States was so incredibly amazing for the ministry. We got to see those kids really grow to trust us and let us into their lives in deeper ways. A testimony I'd like to highlight was, one of our students, Vanessa.
She's in grade 12. She's been coming to our Bible study for about two or three years now, and she is Jehovah's Witness. Her family is Jehovah's Witness. She's her only family member who is not. And she told me, she goes, I need to obey my parents.
That's what the Bible says. I'm like, you're right. So she goes to church with them, but she knows the truth in her heart, and she's preparing when she leaves grade 12 to leave the Jehovah's Witness Church even though that means her family will shun her. Sorry. And it's just been so great to sit with her and walk her through these like doctrinal things that the Jehovah's Witness Church has taught her and tell her she doesn't have to work to get into heaven.
Jesus loves her and she's told me I'm gonna show up and Jesus is gonna turn me away. I'm like, that's not true. You have done everything you need to do and so, yeah, it's just been such a beautiful season of ministry this last year and we're really blessed to be able to be in these kids' lives.
Thanks Brooke. Okay. Onto our main we're what we're there to do is to build a camp. We have been so impacted by camp ministry. We met at camp.
We got married at camp, and we are we have been preparing and fundraising for the last three and a half years to, start building camp. And, we have officially broken ground. The last, three months ago, we broke ground. These are our cabins here, and then this is a office and rec hall. We're gonna have everything that you think of when you think of summer camp in America.
You're we're gonna have cabins, a pool with a diving board, and, you know, games, soccer field, and all of that stuff. So right now, this is where if we go to the next one. Yeah. This is where building is now. So we're building a team house, which will house about 30 people.
So we can start hosting camps out of there. If you come on a team, you can stay here. We also have an external kitchen, which is the middle picture. We we we had to put a picture of our dog in there, of course. But that's a borehole, a hand pump.
And a quick testimony about that is our property is 66 acres. It's already fenced, but there's no roads into the property. And so I started cutting parts of the road along with our caretaker, and it would look out it would look like, you know, Lord, I don't know where we're going, but I pray that you would lead us in the right direction. And so we'd meander our way across, and we eventually found a place where it was good enough, where we thought it was good enough to drill a well. And we surveyed, we drilled to 70 meters, it was dry.
So then we surveyed again, drilled to a 100 meters, and it was dry. And each dry well is $4,000. And so I was feeling super defeated, super discouraged. We went to our Bible study that night with a group of another American missionaries. We prayed over the well.
Two days later, it came back, and the both of the wells were full to 10 meters. So it filled up, you know, 60 meters and 90 meters full of water. And then, you know, we didn't know where we were in the property. And so I sent the location to our architect, and he I was afraid, like, we were gonna be, like, two kilometers away from where construction was gonna take place. We are five meters away.
So we're just super blessed, and it's such a great encouragement for us that if the Lord is showing himself to us in these little ways, like, how much more is he going to change kids' lives that are going to be coming. And we just wanted to show two quick videos of what the buildings are like now because they're very different. So this is the team house here. There's a first beat team coming in November. If you are interested and wanna take a step of faith, come to us in Zambia or go to Costa Rica, but Zambia is cooler.
This is our external kitchen. I imagine we'll play lots of games here, lots of food. That's okay. We can go to the next
one.
You'll see it when you come on a team.
Yeah. So right now, our current prayer requests are we were able to raise a $100,000 this last year in order to start this construction. And due to inflation, we have to raise a 100,000 more dollars in order to finish the construction. And so that's one of our prayer requests as well as we are really praying for local volunteers to come alongside us in Zambia so that maybe they would volunteer an hour or two out of their day to help us run one of these school programs so that we can reach more schools. We have done camps with some middle schoolers, we'd reach out to ten eighth grade schools a year, and we were able to do that five years without repeating a single school.
So there are so many schools that we just can't get to in a week, and so we're praying for some local volunteers to come alongside us, be trained. We'll give them the curriculum, the equipment they need. We just need more bodies to be able to reach more schools. As well as election day is August 13 in Zambia. This last election, five years ago, was our first fair election that didn't have any corruption.
So we're praying for a repeat of that this year. Luckily, things seem to be going well. Our current president is running unopposed, so I think it should be good. But we need we need those prayers for that to continue.
Yeah. We we love you guys. We thank you so much. It's been great to be supported by my home church and our home church. And, yeah, we couldn't do this without your prayers and your financial support.
And so yeah. Thank you.
Can I pray for you? God almighty, thank you for Brooks and for for Brooke and Anders. And I thank you Lord that you are still doing what you do and sending people out. And I thank you that they are answering. Here am I, Lord, send me.
In Jesus name, I ask a blessing on both of them for the remainder of their time here on home assignment. And then when they head back, Lord, I pray that that trust would just increase. And I thank you for these that they've mentioned and for the ones that they haven't. In Jesus name, we ask your blessing. Amen.
Amen. Thank you. Awesome. I'm gonna turn this clicker on now. Give me Jesus, man.
This this last week this last week at the fair. So we did church at the fair, normally do nine and eleven here. If you do a 10:00 service at the fair and somebody didn't hear that you're going to the fair, they show up here at eleven to an empty building. And if, you know, they might have thought the rapture happened, I don't know. But they get here, and they then walked over to the fair when they saw the signs and said, I'm too late.
And also, I was planning on not being here this week. I did not think I would be here this week. And gave Van the next text, 02:12 through eighteen was Van's text. And then we flip flopped. He's down in Bondurant at the Hootenanny, which is awesome, I'm sure.
And here I am. And so what I decided to do since it wasn't recorded last week, and since it's my favorite two paragraphs in all of scripture, I'm gonna preach it again. Not the same sermon, but the same text. Okay? So here we are again at Philippians two.
I love this text so much. I'm gonna hurry through it in the beginning. Just let you hear it. And last week, when we were at the fair, I said, this is the highest and then I backed up and I said, one of the highest Christological passes in the New Testament. So we're gonna hit this one one time and you all heard it now, this first part, twice if you've been here.
Okay? Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, and this is really saying, since there is consolation in Christ, but not everybody knows that. Okay? The letter was written to Christians. So if the letter is written to Christians and y'all are Christians, I'm gonna ask you, is there any consolation in Christ?
Yes. Amen. Is there any comfort in agape love?
Yes. Yes.
Is there any fellowship in the spirit? Note that that's a capital s, Holy Spirit. Okay? Is there any affection, deep visceral, all the way down to the guts level compassion? Is there?
Is there any mercy in Christ? Okay. Then Paul says, well, if all that's true and it is, fulfill my joy by being what? Like minded. Having the same agape.
Being of one accord, of one mind. You can hear unity right there. Unity in the body of Christ. It is screaming out from this text and from all of Ephesians that we just covered. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or vain conceit, empty glorying.
You don't have the resources to be glorying in yourself. So any righteousness that we have is self righteousness unless it is derived from God, and we give him the credit for that. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or bankruptcy, but in lowliness of mind or humility, let each esteem others as better than himself. Putting yourself instead of above in vain glory, you put yourself beneath. You consider others as better than yourself.
And let each one of you look out for your own interest. You should be doing that, but also you should be looking out for the interest of others. And let this mind, allow this to be in you, which also was in Christ Jesus and still is, who being in the form of God or actuality, in all actuality, he's God. But he didn't consider it robbery to be equal with God, or didn't consider equality with God something to be seized or grasped. He gave up his right as a second person of the Godhead, and stepped out of that.
It says he stepped out of that and emptied himself, made himself of no reputation. And he took on the form of a slave or bond servant, and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself. Well, just I always say in in marriage counseling when I'm starting off, I said, at some point in the past, father, son, Holy Spirit in perfect relationship, in need of nothing decided within the Godhead to create mankind. Now, that's an unequal relationship between a man made out of dirt with life breathed into him, temporal being and almighty eternal God. Right?
I just think of he stepped out of this perfection and stepped into a life where he lived and breathed and experienced all that we experience. I have a friend, dear friend, who after the passing of his lovely wife said, I feel like I get Jesus. I feel like I get Jesus, but I don't understand father God at all. I don't get it. He's so far beyond anything I can get and I and I came upset with him.
He said, but I feel like I get Jesus. We feel like that's the point. He in the best worst use of the term or most real use of the term, he condescended to be with us so that he could relate. And he says, if you've seen me, you've seen the father. So if you get Christ, you get the father.
He cut that's a package deal. Being found in appearance as a man and coming in the likeness of man, he humbled himself. He humbled himself and he became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross, which is the most ignominious of death at the time. It was the most shameful. Very crucified outside the city wall among criminals.
Therefore, because he humbled himself, God has also highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and those on the earth and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father. Now, Van will call this the Christ hymn. This is supposed to be this last five through 11 or eight through 11 or depend I mean, five through eight depending on who you listen to. They say this is the great Christ hymn. And so originally, the title of this sermon is, what are other songs that are precursors and echoes of this Christ hymn?
And so now, here we go. Give me Jesus, man. I'm gonna hit some of those other. Not all of them. I was gonna do what turned out to be shock and awe and I'm not gonna do that.
Y'all can't listen that fast. I have 50 slides about Jesus. 50 slides of passages about Jesus that just nail it, and they're so good, and then I reduced that to five. So there are five passages. There's still deep passages and there's more here than I can preach.
But this is sort of like a marinade. Alright? Soak in these. They're really good for you. If you don't already have them kind of memorized or in mind, scribble down the passages and meditate on them this week.
It will bless you. And I know that because it's been busting my socks off for the last few weeks. Give me Jesus, man. Here it is. From the New Testament, I'll start with the New Testament, we'll back up to the old, and then we're gonna go to communion.
That's the way this is gonna go. I got fourteen minutes. This is the first passage. And if you look in a chronological Bible, Genesis one one will not be the first verse. John one one will be the first verse.
Because he has always been, and here it is. Just reading through it. In the beginning was the word. Logos. Content.
It is the content. Everything about God that he wanted transmitted. Everything about God. Good is Jesus and that's the word. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.
Actually, there's a Jehovah's Witness speaking of. His name is Nelson. He calls me, then he calls Carl, then he calls Mike. And he calls to argue about Greek during his lunch hour. He's been doing it for years.
When he calls me, I call Carl and say, Nelson's about to call. He loves to try to twist this. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God and all things came into being through him. Jesus is the agent of creation.
Apart from him, not even one thing came into being that has come into being. Jesus is it, the author, the designer, the builder. In him was life and the life was the light of mankind. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it. Do you hear he being an appear being in actuality God?
He came down and he shone as a light, but they didn't comprehend it. A man came, one sent from God, his name was John, that's John the Baptist. He came as a witness. He came to testify about the light, that's Jesus. So that all might believe through him.
Now, now, John was not the light but he came to testify about the light. This light that he was talking about, this was the true light that coming into the world enlightens every person. Jesus is it, man. He was in the world and the world came into being through him and yet, the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own people did not accept him.
He humbled himself and it came about that when they rejected him, it brought on death and not just death but death on a cross. As Philippians says, but as many as received him to those he gave the right become children of God. That is the way whereby you must be saved. It's the way. To those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood nor of the will of flesh nor of the will of man but of God.
And the word, became flesh, being found in the likeness of man. This is it. Fully God, fully man, truly God, truly man. And he dwelt among us. He knows what it's like.
He was tempted in every way just as we're tempted yet without sin. And we this is John speaking for himself and some other folks, we saw his glory. They got it. A lot of people rejected him and didn't get it. We saw his glory and it was glory as the only son from the father and full of grace and truth.
If you don't know that passage, scribble it down. Keep on looking back at it. When I when somebody asked me where do I start, I say, start in John, the first 18 verses are going to blow your mind, but then it's just a story from there. You can come back to those first eighteen, fourteen verses for the rest of your life and just be in awe of Jesus. Hebrews.
First four verses of Hebrews. The first four verses of Hebrews are known as the exordium. It's a just a fancy word for this is what it's all about. Okay? So the exordium in Hebrews is one little key aspect construction.
It's a really beautiful thing. I'll give it to you like this. This is just the the start. God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days, he's spoken to us in or through his son, whom he appointed heir of all things through whom he also made the world, agent of creation. There at the beginning with God was God.
He is the radiance of God's glory. He is the exact representation of his nature and he upholds all things by the word of his power. And he bowed down to wash dirty feet. That's humbling yourself. If you're the agent of creation, all things I'll keep on going.
I'll let the scripture talk. Here we go. When he had made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. We talk a lot about the life, death, burial, and resurrection, but this is speaking of his session. He is seated because the work is done.
When he had made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much better than angels as he has inherited a more excellent name than they. So God spoke through the prophets and God has spoken through angels on the outside, the white portion up there. Jesus is better than both. The orange portion up there, he appointed mayor of all things. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.
He is he is the one who deserves to be in charge. Now, the yellow part, through whom he also made the world and when he had made purification of sins. Jesus made the world and he made a way that the world might be reconciled to God. And the center portion of a chastatic construction typically is what it's all about, and that's verse three. And it says, and he, Jesus Christ, is the radiance of God's glory.
He's the exact representation of God's nature, and he upholds all things by the word of his power. Everything that exists is because Jesus is doing it still. Okay? He didn't just start it spinning and step back. He's still actively involved.
First Peter. First Peter two twenty two to 25. I'm gonna read this, but I might come back to it. Okay? Jesus committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth.
And while being abusively insulted, this is from the Philippians passage. He humbled himself to death, even death on a cross while being abusively insulted. If you're the savior, then come on save yourself. Gruesome. He saved others, let him save himself.
He didn't insult in return. In fact, because he didn't insult in return, one of those thieves turned to him and says, remember me. And one of those two was saved. Spent paradise that day. Wow.
He didn't insult him in turn, but while suffering, he did not threaten, but he kept on entrusting himself to him who judges righteously. Father God, that is so hard to understand for us. When we don't feel like we understand who Father God is, but we do feel like we get Christ, this is where we go. He kept on entrusting himself to him who judges righteously. I don't see how that can be.
God, I don't see how it can be that I can go through this. I don't see how it can be. This is a cup that I can't take. Jesus felt exactly like that. Not my will, but yours be done, Lord.
Let me just trust you. He kept on entrusting himself to who judges rightly. He himself brought our sins in his body up onto the cross so that we might die to sin and we might live for righteousness and it's by his wounds you were healed. For you are continually straying like sheep, but now you've returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. Amen.
This is a good one. If you don't have this one in your heart, memorize, scribble it down. It's a good one. And you know, there's something about scripture memorization that that feels like, well, why are you doing that? Are you getting that that just check the boxes?
No. No. I'm doing that because I'm hiding his words in my heart. Right? It's really really really good.
It's really good for us. I got a million songs in my head. I wish I could remember this one just a little better. Colossians one, written about the same times as Philippians and Ephesians. He, that's Jesus, is the image of the invisible God.
Do you know the theme here? Everyone of these is in agreement. He, Jesus, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him, all things were created. Agent of creation, both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.
All things have been created through him and they are all for him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together. He's also the head of the body, the church. He's the beginning. The firstborn from the dead that he himself will come to have first place in everything.
Preeminent. For it was the father's good pleasure for all of the fullness of the godhead to dwell in him. And through him to reconcile all things to himself, whether they're things on the earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of Jesus's cross. Wow. That's pretty high Christology.
Agent of creation, salvation only available through him. That's it. Okay. That's the New Testament portion. Isaiah 53.
Isaiah 53 is the Old Testament portion and I think this is cool. So people say, the Bible doesn't really say that blah blah blah. Did you just hear what that said? If you ever hear anybody said, the Bible never says Jesus is God. Yes, it does.
It said it five times right there. He said it himself. If you've seen me, you've seen the father. It says it over and over and over again, but if you watch the Discovery Channel or the whatever, they're just gonna go, no, They'll find some crazy haired theologian. You know what I'm saying?
That disagrees with the whole Bible. Isaiah 53, of all of the text that could have been found in Qumran at the Dead Sea Scrolls, of all the text, we have the Isaiah scroll. All of Isaiah. For years before that, the higher criticism movement had been saying that, well, it's been it's gone through language revisions, it's gone through all these translations, it's gone all this stuff. Who knows whether what we have is even close to what it really was?
And then, some goat farmer finds a bunch of stuff that was written at the time of Jesus, same time as Jesus. And a whole scroll of Isaiah and it says exactly what it still says. Praise God for doing that. It's wonderful. Isaiah 53, we're gonna read one through 12, we'll go to communion.
Who has believed our report? Well, the folks on the Discovery Channel hardly ever do believe the report, you know. I get so frustrated with that. To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? To the humble.
To those with childlike faith. Thank God you're working with young in in Africa. Thank God. That's the time most people come to Jesus. And honestly, thank God for all y'all who came as adults.
I love folks who came as adults. They don't have all the churchy stuff that gets to meet like I like me. Okay? I was way way way overdone. Who has believed our report?
If you have trusted in Jesus, you've believed the report. To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a tender shoot. That's actually a pun for all of you all who love that sort of stuff about Nazareth. He grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of the dry ground.
He had he has no stately form or majesty that we would look at him or anything to draw an appearance that we would take pleasure in him, and he was despised. He humbled himself. He humbled himself even to death. He was despised and he was abandoned. Even the disciples ran away from him at the end by men.
A man of great pain and familiar with sickness or a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And like one from whom people hide their faces, oh man, I just can't even look at it anymore. He was despised and we had no regard for him. This is called the song of the suffering servant and it's been understood a lot of different ways but if you don't see Jesus by the end of, come see me afterwards. Okay?
Thank you, Connor. However, it was our sicknesses that he himself bore and it was our pains that he carried. Yet, we ourselves assumed that he had been afflicted, struck down by God and humiliated, but he was pierced. Pierced. This is seven hundred years before the cross.
He's pierced with nails. He was pierced for our offenses. He was crushed and beaten for our wrongdoings. The punishment for our well-being was laid upon him, and by his wounds, we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray.
We heard that in Peter just a second ago. Each one of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the wrongdoings of us all to fall on him. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, you can hear the passion in that. So he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. A kangaroo court that declared a menace over and over and over again and punished him anyway. He was cut off from the land of the living for the wrongdoing of my people to whom the blow was due. And his grave was assigned with wicked men. Yet, he was with a rich man in his death.
He would have just been buried in Pottersfield, no big deal, but Joseph of Arimathea, a rich man loaned him his tomb. Because he had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth. This is Jesus committed no sin. Peter is attributing this. If you don't think that it's about it, Peter definitely thought 53 Isaiah was about Jesus.
Jesus committed no sin nor was any deceit found in his mouth. While he was being abusively insulted, he did not insult in return. While suffering, he did not threaten, but he kept on entrusting himself to he him who judges rightly. He himself brought our sins in his body up on the cross that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. By his wounds, you're healed.
That's Isaiah 53 also. And this is too, for you are continually straying like sheep, but now you've returned to the shepherd and the guardian of your souls. If you recognize Jesus as savior, you are right. And he is available by God's spirit to make you righteous. Isaiah 53, we're gonna close with this, and look at all the references to Jesus right here.
I've highlighted them in green. But the Lord desired, God the father desired to crush him causing him grief, if he renders himself as a guilt offering. Now, when Jesus is in the garden and he's at the point of absolutely emptying himself and saying, this is not what I want to do, But your will to be done. Right? The Lord desired to crush him causing him grief.
If he renders himself as a guilt offering, your will not mine be done. He will see his church. He will see his offspring. He will prolong his days. He is eternal and he is going through it and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand as a result of the anguish of his soul.
He will see it and he will be satisfied. By his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, will justify the many. It doesn't say all. It doesn't say all. All of this talk about Jesus and not everybody's going to accept him.
There are those we saw him and we saw his glory as the only one begotten of the father and truth and glory. And then it says, he came to his own, he did everything that he needed to do and they rejected him and knew him not. My servant will justify the many for he will bear their wrongdoings. Therefore, I will allot him a portion with the grade and he will divide. This is the, therefore God exalted him and put his name above every name.
So that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue confess that he's Lord to the glory of God the father. Because he poured out his life unto death, and because he was counted with the wrongdoers, yet he himself bore the sin of many, and he interceded for those very wrongdoers. And one of them chose him, and one of them rejected him.
We're going
to go to communion right here. Right now, I'll invite the ushers to come on forward. I want to read this from Romans three. And normally the short form is just three twenty three. We always go to that all of sin have come short of the glory of God but listen to how much Christ Jesus you see in here.
This is an honorable mention, top five, okay? But now, apart from the law, the righteousness for God has been revealed. How? Being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Yeah.
It told some of the story but it's the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe for there's no distinction. All of sin fall short of the glory of God. But being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation when he humbled himself, humbled himself death, even death of a cross. Propitiation means he paid the penalty for sins of all who would believe. And if you are someone who has put their faith in Christ, I don't care what stripe of Christian you are, you are welcome at this table.
If you've placed your faith in Christ, this is an open table for you. This was to demonstrate his righteousness because of God's merciful restraint. He let those sins previous committed go unpunished. For the demonstration that is of his righteousness and at the present time, so that he would be, God would be just, and he would be the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So for everyone of you in the room who has faith in Jesus, it's an open table.
If you know that that's not you, I pray that you'd open yourself up. Having heard more about Jesus and the Bible's claims about him. I pray that the ministry of the people sitting near you would allow you to see what Jesus looks like. As they distribute this, I'm on I'm on pray. Lord God almighty, thank you for Jesus.
Thank you, Jesus for coming. Thank you spirit for directing and Lord God almighty, thank you that you're still in that business. In Jesus name we gather. We do things in the power of the spirit and lord we are surrendered to your will. May your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven.
We ask your blessing on this this symbol, this representation of the body of Christ. Amen. Oh, boy.
Okay.
Above all powers, above all kings, above all nature and all creative things, above all wisdom and all the ways of man. You too were here before the world began.
Sorry.
Above all kingdoms, above all thrones, above all wonders this world earth. No way to measure to die, rejected and alone like a rose, trampled on the ground. You took the fall and thought of me above all, above all powers, above all kings, Crucified, laid behind the stone. You lived to die, rejected and alone like a rose, trampled on the ground. You took the fall
Everything fits into that Philippians passage. Everything. On the evening he was betrayed. After supper, after he had given thanks, he broke bread and he said, this is my body which is given for you. Take this and eat of it.
Do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Thank you Jesus for walking it out. Thank you for emptying yourself. Teach us Lord how to empty ourselves. Teach us Lord how to be one just like you are one.
We can do that not by just the example, but by the blood that was shed. Innocent blood on behalf of the guilty. In Jesus name, Lord, I pray that you would build us up, that you would bring us into right standing, not just with you but with each other. Ask your blessing on this cup as we distribute it, Lord, that you would accompany it, that everyone would feel to the very core of their being. What it is to be in Christ.
And Lord, ask a blessing on anyone who has to let the cup pass, Lord, for now. That they would come to know you. In Jesus name, amen. Amen.
Heal and forgive. He lived and died. To buy my pardon, an empty grave is there to prove my savior lives. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow because he lives. All fear is gone because I know This child can face uncertain days because he lives.
Because he lives. I can face tomorrow because he lives all fear is gone I'll find life's final war with pain. And then as death gives way to victory. I'll see the lights of glory, and I'll know he lives because he lives. I can face tomorrow because he lives.
All fear is gone because I know
Amen. Just as he had taken the bread, he also took the cup after supper and he said to his disciples there and his voice rings out to us in pages of the gospels and the epistles. This is the new covenant in my blood, Jesus said. Take this in. Do it as often as you will in remembrance of me.
Thank you, Jesus. Amen. Would you all stand with me? And let's, y'all are here. Let's just sing the last song anyway.
How about that? I usually close with the doxology but we just, we're going to sing this. I I hate to miss it. I'm thankful for Jesse and for his family being here with us right now. We've got missionaries to Spain, missionaries to Zambia, missionaries all over the place.
Would you sing this one with us? I'm glad. I'm just glad to be here. I don't want it to stop. But we won't keep on after this.
Okay?
Amen. We're gonna do it anyway. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly host.
Praise father, son, and holy ghost.
Amen. I also have one bit of really, really good news that I just heard right before the service. Carolyn went to the doctor and she's in a 100% remission. If you're still in the battle, keep on believing. Give me faith, Lord, to get through it whether you heal or not.
In Jesus name, show us your way and let us walk it out in Jesus name. Bye bye. Amen.
