Christ, The Image of the Invisible GOD

[0:00] Welcome. Thank you for listening to this wholesome word by David Entry. The words you catch will change your world. May your story change from this message.

[0:10] Be blessed. Colossians chapter 1 reading from verse 12 all the way to verse 20 says that giving thanks unto the Father who has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light who has delivered us from the power of darkness and has 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 for by him were all things created that are in heaven that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him all things consist and 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 the pre-eminence for it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell 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 on earth or things in heaven here ends the reading of God's holy word. Father thank you so much for giving us the privilege to share in your word and to feast in your word and to hear from you. It's our prayer that as your word is taught we will catch you as your word is taught enlightenment will come. The light of the gospel will be shown in our hearts one more time.

[2:11] So we will see Jesus clearer and more beautiful. The one who is all inclusive who is altogether lovely. The only one who is altogether wonderful. Altogether beautiful to us. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen.

[2:29] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Last week we spoke about how Colossians chapter 1 verse 15. We spoke about how Christ is the image of God.

[2:43] Imagine all day. The image of not the image of God. Not just the image of God. There's a word there. Invisible God. Bible talks about God lives in an unapproachable light.

[2:59] He lives in an unapproachable light. In Timothy. It said God lives in an unapproachable light. You can't come near him. First Timothy chapter 6 verse 16.

[3:12] Who alone has immortality. Talking about God. Dwelling in unapproachable light. Who no man has seen. All can see.

[3:28] Scientists wish they can. Science doesn't have an answer for everything. Who no man has seen.

[3:40] God dwells in an unapproachable light. And no man has seen. And no man can see. This unapproachable God.

[3:52] Physically. You can't approach him. Light is too much. And this God who no man can see. Or no man has seen. Has decided to give an expression.

[4:04] Of his invisibleness. It cannot be seen. But he has given an expression of himself. In Christ. Christ. So he says that Christ.

[4:15] Is the image. Of the God. Who cannot be seen. Who no one has seen. And cannot be seen. God has decided. To make himself.

[4:25] Manifest. In Christ. Now the reason why. This book was written. Is what theologians call. The Colossian heresy. The Colossian heresy.

[4:36] Was a mixing. Of the. Eastern mysticism. With. Jewish. Religious. Fanatism. So.

[4:46] Two extremes. And they have to. Mix it. So. People have become born again. But now people have. Entered the church. With all kinds of. Ideas. And the ideas. That. Is actually called Gnosticism.

[4:57] Those times. It wasn't called Gnosticism. We know something. That you don't know. And what we know. Is so deep. And esoteric. Like. You see. You see. You guys. Is that not what the.

[5:09] Black panther. You guys. You don't know. You don't know. I find it. I don't know when I'll stop saying this. One of these. But I find it so preposterous.

[5:21] Preposterous. And bizarre. Absurd. For a Muslim. To tell me. He knows Jesus more than me. It's like. It's madness.

[5:32] I like. You tell me. You know Mohammed more than me. Can you follow him. That's understandable. You. You are coming to tell me. Who Jesus is. On what grounds. That Jesus.

[5:42] In the Quran. Is not the Jesus. Of the Bible. There are dogs. That are called Jesus. Yes. In 2nd Corinthians.

[5:55] Paul told them that. If anyone presents. Another Jesus. So. It's only. No. There's not only one Jesus. There are different ones. There are different ones. He said.

[6:05] If anyone presents. Another Jesus. 2nd Corinthians chapter 11. For if. He who. He said. For if he who comes. Preaches. What? Another Jesus. Preaches what? Another Jesus.

[6:16] So that means. There are other Jesus. That can be preached. So sometimes. They preach. Other Jesus. Thinking that is. The same Jesus. We are talking about. So. That's why.

[6:26] Colossians. Is important. Let's settle on. This Jesus. We are talking about. So if you bring. A Jesus. Who doesn't. Fit the bill. Is not the Jesus. The Bible is talking about.

[6:38] You can call it. I had a story. Of a certain. I had a preacher. Say this. Quite. If I. He said. A certain family. They traveled. A thief has been. Monitoring them.

[6:49] Trying to. Break into the house. To steal. And one day. They went on a holiday. So when they went. On the holiday. The thief came in the night. Open it. And when. When he entered.

[7:00] The kitchen. He heard. Somebody said. Hey. I have seen you. And Jesus has seen you. He was surprised.

[7:11] Who is that? The voice came. I have seen you. Jesus has seen you. So he was only. Who is that? He took a light. Flashlight.

[7:21] And then he saw. It was a parrot. It was a parrot. And he said. Oh. Parrot. Then the parrot said. Jesus.

[7:31] Attack. It was a wild dog. Called Jesus. Jesus. And the Jesus.

[7:45] Jumped on him. You see. You might think. It's that Jesus. We are talking about. In the Bible. So.

[7:58] That's why I said. Anyone who preaches. Another Jesus. Don't. Don't. Don't believe him. Don't. Don't. So we have to know. Who this Jesus. Really is. So as to protect us. From being distracted.

[8:08] By other Jesuses. That are presented. Yeah. And. Any Jesus. That doesn't fit. The Jesus. Colossian. Is talking about. Forget it. Is not the Jesus. Of Christianity. And if you don't know.

[8:19] This Jesus. You are not a Christian. That's what it means. Now you can. Believe in him. Basic things. About Jesus. You have to know. Is the first of all.

[8:31] He's God. He came to die. Not for his sin. He wasn't. A victim of. Pointless pallet. No. He said. I lay down my life. And I pick it up myself.

[8:41] So he wasn't a victim. In fact. If the Jews. Had their way. They wouldn't have. Crucified. They wouldn't have made him die. The day he died. Because the day he died.

[8:52] Was the Passover. Just a big. Annual festival. And they would want. But he. Was coming as the lamb of God. And he has to die on the Passover. Passover. He was the Passover.

[9:02] So he chose when he died. Then he didn't choose his time of death. Jesus we are talking about. Is the only one who. Chose his date of birth. Every other person. You are given your date of birth.

[9:13] Wow. Jesus chose the day he will be born. Where he will be born. The conditions surrounding his birth. So. It's important to understand. That. Basically.

[9:24] To be a Christian. You must believe that Jesus is God. He died for. Not his sins. For our sins. And he resurrected the third day. And that. You are committing. Your life. To his.

[9:35] Life. Or. You are. You are letting him. Be the Lord. Of your life. If he is saving you. So that. It's so basic. But it's so profound. It doesn't matter.

[9:45] The violence. Offender. Who truly believes. That woman. From Jesus. A pardon. Receives. You know. So it doesn't matter. How far you are. As I said last Sunday. He didn't come with condemnation.

[9:58] A criminal on the cross said. Oh God. Remember me. He said today. You will be with me. Father. Because he asked for it. He doesn't save you. If you don't ask for it. He asked for it.

[10:09] The other one was condemning him. But he didn't respond. Because he didn't come to condemn. He didn't come to condemn. So he doesn't have time. God has set a day. In the which he will judge. The living and the dead. By that man.

[10:19] Jesus. This is Acts chapter 17. Verse 31. So. The basic truth you need for salvation. Is Jesus is the son of God. Which means Jesus is God. He died on the cross.

[10:30] For our sins. So then. If someone has paid. For the debt of your sins. You can actually. Be sinless. In the sight of God. In fact. This is how. Ephesians chapter 1.

[10:40] Verse 4 and 5. Puts it. That he will present us. Blameless. What? In the sight of God. You? Oh. Look. According to his. The riches of his glory. That we should be.

[10:53] Holy. And without blame. Before God. In love. That's why Jesus. We have been. Chosen. So we can be like that. So that. Your sins.

[11:03] Become history. Your sins. Become history. Once you are in Christ. Amen. Amen. That's good news. Amen. How many of us have sinned before? Oh yes.

[11:14] And some of us are still sinning. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. God is a holy God. How can you have a relationship with God? Think about it. How can you?

[11:27] How can you? Driving a van. A lorry. Get to Birmingham. Before the plane. You ought to go from Heathrow. No.

[11:38] You can't compete with the plane. You can't walk. What I'm trying to say. You can't walk with God. because you don't have the installation. So when Christ is in you, your sins are forgiven, you become holy.

[11:54] Holy. You become, because the Holy Spirit imparts the holiness of God on us. In Hebrews chapter 3, he calls us holy brethren. Can't imagine, Hebrews 3, verse 1, he said, holy brethren.

[12:11] Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling. What? What makes you holy? Christ in you. Christ in you.

[12:22] So that's the basics of becoming. Now, the rest of your Christian life, what we have to do is to be growing in the knowledge of him. By growing in the knowledge of him, we are growing in grace.

[12:35] So grow in grace and in knowledge. So as we grow in the knowledge of Christ, we are growing in grace. We are growing in grace and the knowledge. It's again, Peter. And in 1 Peter chapter 1, it talks about, according as we are growing in knowledge.

[12:51] So the rest of our Christian life, watch this, this is very important. This is very important. The rest of our Christian life, which another word or another phrase for Christian life, some of you may not be aware, is church life.

[13:04] Okay? The rest of your church life, the rest of your Christian life, the same thing. The Christian life is a church life.

[13:16] Let's all say that together. The Christian life is a church life. Let's say it again. The Christian life is a church life. That's quite profound. The Christian life is the church life.

[13:27] So the rest of your church life is all about knowing and exhibiting or living Christ. Or let's put it this way, being abreast with the riches of Christ.

[13:44] Ephesians chapter 3, verse 8, talks about the riches of Christ, the unsearchable riches of Christ. To me, that I should preach among the, the unsearchable riches of Christ.

[13:56] The more you are coming to terms with, when we talk about the riches of Christ, listen, I know it's getting a bit, it's in the Bible. So what do you mean by the riches of Christ?

[14:08] All who Christ is, is God, became flesh, was born of the Virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, very important, lived a sinless life, died, died a vicarious death.

[14:23] When we say vicarious, in other words, he's dying in somebody else's place. So he died a vicarious death, resurrected after he died.

[14:34] He didn't stay in the grave. He resurrected, the empty tomb is there to show. He resurrected, and then when he resurrected, went into heaven, watch this, and that's not the end of the story. And when he went to heaven, sat at the right hand of majesty on high, and he's now living his life through the church.

[14:50] Wow. So he's still on earth, working actively, but through the church, through the many members of the church, called his body. So the church is his body, and he is the head.

[15:03] Oh, I feel like preaching now. He, he is the head of the body. Okay, so Christ is not detached, sitting in heaven, sitting in heaven somewhere, and watching us do our own thing.

[15:15] No, no, no. He is, so he's living in the church. So when we talk about the church, we are talking about Christ being the centrality of everything the church does. Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20 said, unto him, who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all you think or ask of.

[15:34] That's where charismatic stop. Think about us as that. This text is not about us. It's actually about what, why God chooses us.

[15:48] Why God manifests. So any good thing that is happening, God does more than we pray for. God, how many of you know, it's not every prayer, you pray that God answers.

[16:04] If you don't know that, then I know. If you don't know that, then, you probably have not been prayed. But, the most serious one is, how many of you know that, God doesn't always wait for you to pray before he does some things?

[16:21] He wouldn't have saved you. There are things that God has done just this morning, for you, which you haven't prayed about. Yeah. And so, it says that, he, who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above, all we can think or ask of, according to his power that works in us, unto him, now, the 21 is very important, unto him, be the glory in the church.

[16:51] O, to him, be the glory in the church, by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages. There's never a time, the church should be distracted from, giving glory, bringing glory to God and his Christ.

[17:06] The church exists for Christ, that's why, the only thing Christ is doing on earth, is building his church. Wow. Is he not doing climate, saving the climate?

[17:18] That's what you think. All he's doing, is building the church. No, but you can't say that, he has also been helping people. All he's doing, is building the church. If he helps anybody, it's because it's part of his church building program.

[17:33] Part of his church building. If he answered your prayers, it's because it's part of his church building program. So, Christ is, building the church. And so, the rest of our Christian life, must be spent, knowing Christ.

[17:46] Knowing Christ. Knowing Christ. Knowing Christ. The riches of Christ. So, when we talk about the riches of Christ, we are talking about, who he is, what he has accomplished, what he has attained.

[17:58] You remember, I spoke about, he accomplished redemption. Redemption is a big accomplishment. Satan tried to block it, by speaking through, one of Jesus' closest allies.

[18:11] And trying to use, different means to block the redemption. That's why they wanted to kill him, when he was a child. When Jesus was born, Herod wanted to kill him, by two weeks. Because, Jesus would choose when he would die.

[18:23] Even when he was, whilst he was a child, he could choose when he would die. So, so, all that he has accomplished, and all that he is, and what he is to us, that's what we talk about, the riches of Christ.

[18:35] When that becomes your enjoyment, you are now enjoying it. your, your, your, your, the centrality of your Christian life, must be hinged on, who Christ is, and what he has accomplished. Not just, the benefits you are getting now.

[18:49] Material benefits, money, marriage, uh, business. All those things are good. They are just free, they are, they are very far benefit. The core, of our Christian benefit, and testimonies, is, Christ is growing.

[19:03] Galatians chapter 4, verse 19, I travel in prayer, unto Christ be formed in you. Christ is growing in you. You are beginning to enjoy more, and understand, enjoy more, the riches of Christ.

[19:15] Enjoy more. When you enjoy, the more, the more you enjoy, the riches of Christ. What are the riches of Christ? Who he is, what he has attained, what he has accomplished for us. The more, that is why, as a pastor, nowadays, this thing consumes you.

[19:28] The more I talk about the redemption, the more I talk about forgiveness of sins, the more I talk about the cross, the more I talk about these things, the church, it just, I get, I start getting very excited, because these are the centrality, of the riches of Christ.

[19:41] And the more that fills your heart, a lot of things lose value. Yes. A lot of things, and get it right, your Christian life, the quality of your Christian life, has a lot to do with, the riches of Christ, being worked, being worked into you, being, becoming your enjoyment.

[19:56] You can be going through difficult times, but you are still enjoying, the riches of Christ, that Satan loses hold on your life. Satan can confuse you. Yes. You can be bereaved, and in the midst of bereavement, you still have, no, you see, there are people who, when Christ becomes your focus, nothing else matters much.

[20:18] How come, Paul, say, think about this, think about it. Paul said, I rejoice in my suffering for you. Huh? Think about it.

[20:29] Sometimes we think, oh, that's Bible language. Think about it. I rejoice in my sufferings for you. He said, I'm suffering, but I'm happy, because he's producing something godly, something, and he's so consumed.

[20:43] In fact, they told him, in Acts chapter 20, they said, please, don't go. Don't go. Paul, don't move out of this. Don't go to Jerusalem, because the Holy Spirit is indicating, that the one, who owns this, this garment, belt, if you go to Jerusalem, the Jews will catch him, and kill him.

[21:01] Paul said, stop, why are you crying to break my heart, that I shouldn't go? Because Holy Ghost is revealing this. He's been showing it everywhere I go, and I am not bothered, so I can accomplish my, my, Acts chapter 20, 20, 20, 22.

[21:15] He said, I want to accomplish, I want to fulfill my assignment with joy. He said, I'm ready, not only to suffer. This must be a mad person. This must be a mad person.

[21:26] But none of these things, none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself. If you haven't tasted the riches of Christ, you can't say this. Wow. Yeah.

[21:37] You can't say this. It doesn't matter how long you've been in church. This whole Christ thing has not arrested your heart. That's why you are quarreling with people. Every little thing, you have an issue. You change churches like you change wigs or shoes.

[21:49] Amen. You have a problem, you don't know Jesus. Yeah. And this, you are knowing this thing for Jesus. You are like someone, the sorcerer.

[22:01] If he offered money, he said, give me this thing, so that me too, what I see, the good news I'm seeing about you, me too, I want it. So let me, what, what, what does he call, what can I do to get this? See, it's not, see, this Jesus thing hasn't grasped your heart.

[22:16] He said, he said that none of these things move me. And I don't count my dear life. Why? So I may finish my rest with joy and the ministry, which I have received from the Lord Jesus to testify of his grace.

[22:33] The grace of God. He said, this is what is driving me. And he's talking about this, he said that he was the one who spoke about that, efficiency of the three verse eight, that the fullness of God, oh, sorry, the riches of Christ.

[22:46] He said, to me who am less than the least of all the saints, the grace was given that I should preach. This is, and what's he preaching? He's preaching, he's preaching among the Gentiles, the unsetrable riches of Christ.

[23:02] Unsearchable riches of Christ. Unsearchable riches of Christ. I remember the other day when Peter went into the house of Cornelius to go and preach. He didn't go with his, by his own choice.

[23:13] Circumstances led, he couldn't say he wouldn't go if he loved God. He was going to, he was hungry and he was going to pray. And he fell into a trance. Acts chapter 10, he fell into a trance and he saw all kinds of visions.

[23:25] As soon as the vision finished, Bible said he was wondering, he said, he was wondering, what's the meaning of all these things I'm seeing? Then the spirit of God told him, there are three men waiting for you.

[23:36] Can you imagine? Then the spirit of God told him, Peter, the spirit said to him, three men are waiting for you. So you see, it wasn't Peter. There was something extra, no, outside of himself, who was moving Peter.

[23:52] He said, three men, because if it was left for him, he wouldn't go. He's too Jewish. He's too Jewish to go to a Gentile's house. And now that he's even deeply religious, he's become deeply religious. Why would you go to a Gentile's house and break the basic norms of Jewish religion?

[24:06] So he wouldn't go. The Holy Spirit said, go down. He didn't even know where it was going. When he went down, he met the guys. The guys said, Cornelius has sent us to you because he saw a vision, an angel standing here, said, we should come and call you.

[24:17] Well, so he went. And when he got there, he said, you have called me and I'm here. So tell me, what is it? And then he said, it's not me. I was praying.

[24:28] And then I saw an angel and he said, send for Peter. And so I sent men to call you. And that's why I've called you. Then Peter said, Hey, of the truth. I know that God is no respecter of persons.

[24:41] This after, this is, look at, look at the story. Once he started saying, now I know God is no respecter of persons. Then he started to tell them about Christ, how he died. The gospel is, is, is no gospel without the death.

[24:56] So if you have didn't believe the death of Christ, you haven't become a Christian. You have to believe that he died for your sins. Not that he died because he was a nice man.

[25:08] Jealous people killed him. No, he died for our sins. So he spoke about, I haven't even gone to Colossians, but I think I'm preaching anyway. So Peter started telling, I'm narrating Acts chapter 10.

[25:20] Peter started telling them about Jesus Christ, his death, his burial, his resurrection. And then he went on to talk about remission of sins. He was raised by, by God. And God showed him to only a selected few people who God had predetermined that they should see him for them to go and preach.

[25:36] So then Peter said that, so preach for remission. Verse 43, he spoke about remission of sins and repentance. As soon as he said, he spoke about Jesus through whom remission of sins comes.

[25:47] Guess what? The Holy Spirit said, geez, you finished your job now. Let me get involved. The Holy Spirit side steps Peter. Peter didn't have a choice. His will was not at play here. It was the will of the eternal God, the sovereign God who was working because somebody has dedicated himself for God.

[26:04] And as soon as Peter was speaking, Bible said, whilst Peter yet spake these words, hallelujah. Whilst Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost fell upon all those who are listening.

[26:22] I see the Holy Spirit coming upon somebody. The Holy Spirit fell upon them. So now the people who came with him were confused. Holy Ghost has come on Gentiles too.

[26:35] Verse 45, they were confused. They didn't have a choice. So when they went back to Jerusalem, it was reported that Peter has gone to a Gentiles home. Peter.

[26:47] Peter. So he was summoned. He was summoned to come and give reasons why. And then he recanted what has happened. That he saw a vision.

[26:58] The man saw a vision. And the angels said, go and call Peter. He will speak to you words of life. And Peter, look at verse 14. Who will come and tell you the words by which you might be saved.

[27:10] So Peter comes. And Peter, listen to this. That's why I've narrated all this. I just love it. He said, he said, he said, Peter said, as he was speaking, the Holy Spirit came upon them.

[27:24] Just as of us in the beginning. So it wasn't me. It wasn't me. He said, the Holy Spirit came upon them. As he came upon we Jews in the beginning on the day of Pentacles.

[27:39] Look, Peter's next comment was the even serious one. He said, who am I? Yes. If God has chosen to include your former boyfriend. Sorry. If, he said, who am I?

[27:54] Who am I? That I should stop the hand of God. If therefore God gave them the same gift, the same gift as he gave us. When we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was, who was I that I could withstand?

[28:09] God, you're making a mistake. Don't put the Holy Ghost on this. No, no, no. Who am I? Yeah. This is the essence of Christianity. That's right. The riches of Christ being worked into people.

[28:21] Yeah. And Paul said, this is what I live for. Yeah. I live for this. Yeah. And others can, can you imagine, let me say this. If the riches of Christ really gets into you, you can never be confused about your Christianity.

[28:35] Yeah. It doesn't matter the intellectual argument they bring against you. Yeah. You know, you know, there's, when I hear people say, you know, there's a certain, there are other books they didn't add to the Bible.

[28:47] I'm looking at this ignorant, spiritually blind person. Which book? Even the ones here, you can't obey. You want more.

[28:59] Why are you looking for more? To dilute or to give you an excuse. Yes. The reason why they say there are other books is not because they want to believe, but it's because they want not to believe.

[29:10] Yeah. So they say, okay, there are other things. That's what, it's so, it's a, it's a language of unbelief, but let's leave that alone. The point I'm making is, it doesn't matter who you are. And I meet you, you say, you are, you are a professor in Jewish history or Palestinian history in the early century.

[29:29] And you tell me all the rubbish, even if she tell me you were there, when Pontius Pilate died, you were at his funeral. Yeah. It doesn't matter. I've, I've beaten too much into the riches of Christ.

[29:40] Wow. This thing has arrested my heart. I just know you are so blind. Wow. I just know, ah, Christianity is in, in decline. I know you are blind.

[29:51] Mm-hmm. No, no, to God are all his ways. I dare you. Oh, so. What else is declining somewhere, is inclining somewhere? Wow. Wow. Wow. And God, God is not moved by numbers, and God cannot be threatened by politicians.

[30:05] Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Or journalists. Yes. You know. No, no, no. When they were killing Jesus, people thought that was the end. But it was actually the beginning. Yes, yes, yes.

[30:16] And it has already been planned. Yes, yes, yes. So now, let me go back to where I moved up from. Yeah. People who come with all kinds of other Jesuses. Yeah, it's true. And they all claim, Jehovah's Witness claim, that they are followers of Jesus.

[30:32] But their Jesus, his actual name is Jehovah. And they'll give you a certain version of Jesus in the New World Translation.

[30:44] Those of you who have been thinking, God, you don't like buying Bible. You are collecting Bibles from hotels and, yeah, your grandma, your grandma's Bible.

[30:55] Your grandma only read Psalms. You say, I read my Psalms every day, my Psalm every day, my Psalm every day. So you don't want to buy a Bible. No wonder you have new world translation.

[31:09] It's Jehovah's Witness Bible. It says that in the beginning, it doesn't say in the beginning was the word, the word was with God. And the word was God. Now, so Colossians chapter, wow. For Colossians chapter one, verse 15, it says that he is the image of the invisible God.

[31:26] So who is this Jesus we are talking about? He actually is the only human being, only thing on earth, only thing physical, only one physical, who could give an accurate, full expression of the invisible God.

[31:43] He's the only one. So he said, in the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, I explained it. That, you know, those of you who are firstborns, do you have some firstborns here?

[31:57] Yes. There are some opportunities you get, others don't get. Yes. If you are second, I was second, or third, sometimes you get to wear old shoes, old clothes, they pass it on.

[32:10] They, they, they pass it on to you. Uniforms. Uniforms, they pass the uniform on to you. Sometimes it's oversized. Sometimes it's big, but you grow into it.

[32:22] But when you're firstborn, you don't have those problems. Yes. You are the first. So a firstborn tends to get some privileges and rights.

[32:34] And it's not, it's not, it's not just that. In those days, a firstborn always will have double portion, or triple portion, quadruple, of the estates of the father. So the inheritance of the family, by being the firstborn, you have access.

[32:47] So that's what, in those days, that's what it used to be. So when somebody's a firstborn, it means a lot. It's a very important person in the family. He has a person of authority in the family, because no one lives forever.

[33:00] So as the older generation are going, the firstborn takes over. And that's when they go, the firstborn, the first, the first, the first. So to be a firstborn is very important. Let's say you are, you are in a queue, you know, at St. Bruce, quite a Christmas queue, long one.

[33:19] And you've been standing there for a long time, to be safe, so you have to go early, after waiting so long. And then somebody just comes, which happens a lot in some places. They just, they just bring somebody to the front.

[33:29] Hey. Director said, we should bring this one. How would you feel? Oh, yeah.

[33:40] You feel very angry. Why? Because you were first. Yeah. How come this one just came, they brought you? I was first. Because when you are first, you should have some privileges, some rights. So when you're talking about someone being first, you're talking about having certain unique privileges.

[33:56] So to be a firstborn, have severe privilege. But then eventually, over time, it became like, when you are first, now they use the word first, to mean not first in chronology.

[34:10] but it's not more about chronology, it now becomes about supremacy. So when you say someone is first, like God told Israel, my firstborn, it's not in order, but supremacy, in order of importance.

[34:24] Like the way we say, that's the father of modern day music. Does he give, did he give birth to everyone who is into modern day music? No. So it became like an icon. So Christ being the firstborn of all creation, that is, watch this, I'm telling you this because, this is where they want to stand on.

[34:41] You see, Christ is firstborn of creation. So it means he was created. It means he was created. You guys say he's God, but he was created. The, as I was telling you, the Gnostic, the Colossian heresy, say, some of the things they believed was that, you see, God is so powerful, and they believed that, anything physical cannot be holy, cannot be clean enough.

[35:05] Anything physical is not clean, it's not holy. God cannot be part of it. So God created, he didn't even create this world, this idea, ideas. God didn't create it.

[35:15] You see, you guys, you don't know. I'm telling you. See, you think God created it. No, God didn't create this world. God created demigods, and some, one of them strayed off and came and created this world.

[35:28] Yeah, see, see, that's Gnosticism. Gnosticism. And that's what, sometimes when you say these things, I saw someone watching a movie on the plane. Cartoon.

[35:39] Okay. You know, sometimes when you're a citizen, you can see some, yeah, yeah, I'm not watching anything, but I just, you say you won't watch. Why are you, it's, it's, it's, you just saw.

[35:51] So, as I'm done, so I saw someone watching something cartoon, and cartoon, and I saw something that got my attention. Part of the cartoon was two characters, cartoon characters, and they were holding three incense, and they were holding it, and then facing some Buddha thing, and then they were going like this, cartoon.

[36:12] And I say, see, if you do, like they were praying, the whole Western world will rise. Yeah. But now what we like is yoga. What we like is esteemed mysticism.

[36:23] If you make a mistake, you say, let's join us, let's pray for the, what is wrong? Yeah. Okay, if we not do religion, let's not do it. But why do we discriminate?

[36:34] Yeah. In the name of we don't do religion. But it's not true. Yeah. It's not true. Exactly. It's just that you don't do Christ. Yes. When you go to schools, people are there with their religious symbol.

[36:45] They won't tell you who they are, but you see that you know this is a religious person. Yeah. Yeah. But a Christian is not, it's supposed to show in any way. Yeah. You're a Christian, by any symbol or anything. Wow. That's also another thing altogether.

[36:57] Very interesting. But God will help us. Amen. It doesn't intimidate God. At all. God knows why he called you at this time. Wow. So he will download the riches of Christ into you.

[37:08] Hallelujah. Amen. So, it's important to know that they will say all these kind of ideas. So, God created these demigods and they created this world because God can create this world because it's not.

[37:20] And one of them, another demigod, is Christ. And it's just all kinds of. So, Paul had to write this thing to clear the air in the church that, listen, I don't even have to start attacking the nonsense you are saying.

[37:34] I just have to make sure that you know that Christ, who, this Jesus we are talking about, this Christian Jesus, this is he. If you have any other, Jesus is not the one.

[37:46] So, he says that, who is the image of the invisible God? The firstborn of every creature. Firstborn, it's not meaning he was created. But they always want to say, you see, Jesus is not God.

[37:57] Every other religion, this is the main problem. It's about the deity of Christ. And so, if they say, we have a Jesus, ask them, is he God?

[38:09] If he says, no God, okay, sorry, maybe it's just like one of the dogs that call Jesus or some footballer or something. But this is not a Jesus the Bible is talking about. So, Paul had to write, that's why he wrote, to defend and to help the church to understand who our Jesus is.

[38:27] Number one, he is the image of the invisible God. Number two, he is the firstborn of every creature. And then, you see the column there? Look at the next verse, verse 16.

[38:38] Four. I was reading one version, one translation. It said, because in him were all, say all. All. Take notes of the number of all you see in almost every verse from, for the next five verses.

[38:52] all. All inclusive, not only some others. All. For by him were all things created. So, this straight away tells you that things were created. It didn't come as an accident of a big bang.

[39:07] Created. Wow. This is a very Christian theology. Things were created and they were created by Christ. That are in heaven, that are in earth, visible.

[39:18] There are things that are created that are not visible. Visible, invisible. Whether they be thrones or dominions, some translation is a lordship. Thrones or dominions, principalities, powers, all things were created by him and for him.

[39:31] I spoke about that very much last week. Now, there's something called, I need to throw this in, there's something called the Nicene Creed. I know you know about the Apostles' Creed, but the Nicene Creed is even more popular than the Apostles' Creed.

[39:49] How about the Nicene Creed? There was a heretic. When we say somebody is a heretic, it means that someone who goes off from mainstream, stable, sensible teaching.

[40:01] Yes. So, let's say, God forbid, someone is with us, one of our pastors or something, it can't happen here, but comes in and said, now you know what, I am, Jesus has revealed to me that I am the one that I'm supposed to, I'm the prophet that the holy, he said, I'm coming after him.

[40:20] So, or, I've seen, I've seen, I've seen deeply that I don't need to read the Bible. You don't just need to, you don't really, just God, if you can cross your leg and pray and concentrate, God will just download, okay, you have gone off, you are off, okay, that is a heretic, heresy, something that is off, right?

[40:45] Now, there was a heretic named, Arian. His, heresy, heresy was that Jesus is not God.

[40:57] And I think he was very prominent and important in the fourth century. So, he started talking about Jesus is not God and usually they come out with all kinds of very interesting, complicated ideas.

[41:10] So, Jesus is not God and that was that. So, 17 centuries ago, this thing was being attacked, the church was being attacked by this. So, it's not new. It's always been around.

[41:21] So, to counteract this Arian heresy, the church fathers, the church leaders came together in a place called Mysia and they came together and said, let's, this whole doctrine about Jesus based on the scripture, let's put some statement together that captures everything.

[41:42] That's how we have the Nicene Creed. But I would like to read a bit of it, a little bit of part of it for you to see the Nicene Creed. Part of it is, I think it's, okay, that we believe in one God.

[41:57] How many? One. This is even stronger than just the Apostles' Creed. We believe in one God. Three, three, three, three, 25 AD. This was put together.

[42:09] We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. Look at the next stage, man. Let's go. And in one Lord Jesus, let's go.

[42:22] The only Son of God. Begotten from the Father before all ages. God from God. Light from light. True Lord from true God. Begotten, not made, of the same essence.

[42:36] This, this, this, this, this, is to counteract this Aryan heresy. This is what Paul was talking about. Listen, he says that one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God.

[42:49] Begotten from the Father before all ages. God from God. Light from light. True God from true God.

[43:01] Begotten, not made, of the same, now when we say, of the same essence, that means everything God is, the nature of God, he is. That's why he said, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father.

[43:13] That's why Paul said, in him, he is the image of the invisible God. He is the essence, same essence. So he can't say he was made. He was not made. He was, even though he was begotten, that's where gay people go, he was, he was begotten.

[43:28] Begotten doesn't mean like, God went to labor ward. No one has seen God at any time. Yeah. In John chapter one, verse 18, he said, but the only begotten who is from the bosom, he's from the internal core.

[43:44] He's an expression from the core. He has defined him. He has exegeted him. He has revealed God. So, the Nicene Creed said that he is true God, from true God, light from light, begotten, not made, of the same essence as the Father.

[44:05] Now, this, these statements are there to crystallize our belief. Now, anyone who tells you about a Christ or a Jesus, they normally even don't add a Christ.

[44:16] They tell you about a Jesus in their religion or supposed Christianity. Okay? It can be a bishop. If that Christ does not fit this, it's a different Jesus he's talking about.

[44:28] Wow. Right. If the Jesus you have believed does not fit this. Now, this is a statement put together by the church fathers, but let's go to the text, the Bible. Yeah.

[44:39] This is just amplifying. This is just giving expression to what the Bible has already said. That's why, let me advise you as a Christian, never get yourself busy with extra biblical information, thinking that that's what will enrich your Christian life.

[44:52] That does not add to the riches of Christ in you. Extra biblical information, it just makes you, it embellishes what you are supposed to know from the text. The Bible alone is sufficient.

[45:04] The Bible alone. The Bible alone, anything outside of the Bible, God has no sense, God, oh, this is what, this is what I'm trying to say. God doesn't need that to save you.

[45:15] God doesn't need that to polish you. God doesn't need you to make you stronger. Anything required to make you stronger, to make you better, to make you grow, to make you like Christ, everything is here in the Holy Word.

[45:30] Everything is here. Yeah. Yeah. Anytime somebody suggests that there's something that can make you better Christian or better person than the Bible is given, even if they are quoting from wise men of old, even they are quoting from Confucius, even they are, oh, those today, but Mali sang it, and so what?

[45:53] What is it that they are saying with the word that has been said already? What is it that they are saying to the extent that now we give value to what they have said above what the word is saying?

[46:04] Oh, no, something is undermining your Christian life. The quality of your Christian life has everything to do with how much you are built on this thing. That's it. This thing, you are built. That's the, it's not how much you pray.

[46:15] Some people are prayer warriors. Yeah. They are prayer warriors, but they are word worrying. No wonder they stand, they stand, they are prayer, but Satan, I bind you.

[46:29] Satan, I bind you. You, you are a choir star. You are, you are a talented person, not anointed person. There's no anointing outside of plug-in and union with Christ.

[46:46] How anointed? You are no anointed. What does it mean to be anointed? It means Christ is in you because he is the anointed one and he's anointing. And we went for camp meeting with KP2 and the theme for the camp was the anointing.

[47:01] And I prepared heavily, brothers and sisters, to go and build some serious, to go and download some good teachings on the Holy Ghost.

[47:16] Because I like talking about the Holy Spirit. And I went to go and teach on the Holy Spirit. And then when I stood there, I just to prepare them for the Holy Spirit, something Christocentric overtook me.

[47:29] And I started talking more about Christ, his personhood, and it was deep. I went deep. God, that's what I love most. I went so deep about this Christ, who he is, about Jesus, how he's gone.

[47:42] I went so deep and the place was like electrified. And sometimes you are preaching, you can see you yourself, you have, you feel goosebumps because this thing, there's something happening. The thing has eaten me up.

[47:53] After a while, I spent, we were there for three days, one and a half days on Christ. Then I said, now that we are talking about Christ, I didn't even get to teach on the Holy Spirit the anointing purpose.

[48:06] I learned something and it happened somewhere else. And I learned it. I said, if you want to see anointing, if you want to see the work of the Holy Spirit, just reveal Christ. Reveal Christ. Just reveal Christ.

[48:17] Acts chapter 8, verse 5, and Philip went down to Samaria and preached Christ and preached Christ and preached Christ. And when he preached Christ, look at what happened. After preaching Christ and the people with one accord, with, sorry, the unclean spirits crying out, coming out, people, people who were possessed.

[48:38] Verse 6, the people gave him heed. And there was, Bible says, there was preaching joy in the city. Why? Because Christ has arrived. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

[48:50] What preaching is it that can change life, which is void of Christ? Yeah. It is, see, that preaching, that is not Christocentric or that is void of Christ.

[49:02] It is like semen without spermatozo. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. You, you, you can, you cannot fertilize an egg.

[49:16] You cannot, it's only a lot of semen by it lacks spermatozo. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. The fertilizing agent, you are very happy.

[49:27] The, the, the fertilizing agent in every given semen is a sperm.

[49:40] Yes. Spam count. Spam count. Yes. Spam count. Yes. Please, let us not give ourselves to preaching that law in Christ counts. Ah. Christ counts.

[49:53] Christ counts. He is, let me finish this by moving it further. It says that, it says, verse 16, Colossians 1, 16. It says that, by him were all things created.

[50:05] That happens. Let's look at verse 17. Verse 17, I like this. It said, he is before all things and by him all things cohere, consist. You remember I told, all things hold together. It's like, it's like the spokes of a wheel or of a bicycle.

[50:19] The hub in the center, everything goes to the hub. Anything that is disconnected from the hub will not do the, the wheel any good. Any preaching that is disconnected from Christ.

[50:30] When I was in Ghana last two weeks with Pastor Frank, we were going for a service. He just, when he came into my room, he came with a spring in his face. He said, Pastor, I just saw something. Can't imagine. I said, what is it?

[50:40] I said, he said, I was reading the Bible and I just saw something. It just, just, it just got me excited. I said, tell me, if you tell me about what you see in the Bible, you get my attention because I also want to see, maybe I haven't seen it.

[50:52] I want to see. I said, tell me, that's what Christians should be doing. Yeah. Instead of that, gossiping and gossiping and gossiping and gossiping and gossiping. Gossiping. And this one has done this.

[51:02] This one has now married this person. Has now done this. And this church, this pastor has done this. Gossiping and gossiping. You are busy talking about what others have done and you leave what you have done. That's why you are not helping the church.

[51:17] You are hurting the church. Instead of winning souls, you are ruining souls. This is Twitter. He said, no, the thing has come. Yeah, I just came from Nigeria.

[51:28] I saw Bishop Oye DePu, I shook his hand. The thing has come. The thing has come. Hallelujah. Yesterday, I shook Mr. We have to say, yeah. So, let's just see us. The, the, the, connectivity to Christ.

[51:43] So, Pastor Frank came. You want to hear what your husband said? Pastor Frank came. I said, tell me, what is it? He said, Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1. He says that God, who in sundry times spoke to our fathers through various ways by the prophets in these last days has spoken to us by his son.

[52:01] Pastor Frank said, Pastor, that means that if you are preaching and you don't preach Christ, God is not speaking. I said, wow, you got it, boy. I said, that sounds good. If you are preaching and you are not, there's no Christ, you are not preaching a Christocentric message, God is actually not speaking.

[52:19] God is not speaking because in these last days, he only speaks through Christ. Wow. He only speaks through Christ. Hallelujah. In him, all things hold together.

[52:33] In the next verse, I have to end now. He is the head of the body. I mentioned the body earlier on. He's the head, the body of Christ. First Corinthians chapter 12, verse 12, we are the body.

[52:46] Romans chapter 12, verse 5, we are the body. He's the head of the body. Christ is the head of the body. So, he's the image of the invisible God, one, and then by him, sorry, he's the firstborn of all Christians.

[53:02] He's the, the head of the, so firstborn of all Christians, in him, all things hold together. He's the, all things were created by him and he holds everything together.

[53:13] And then he's the head of the body. What's the body? What's the body? What's the body? If you serve the church, it's like, you are treating Jesus.

[53:27] Yeah. Can you imagine the way some of our sisters look so pretty? Makeup. Some of the sisters, even though they are old, their face is smooth.

[53:40] Wow. Very smooth. Because, all kinds of things they do before they sleep. Oh. Quite scary.

[53:53] It's a process. They, they can stay up. They have to do this, wait for 30 minutes, after all, add this one, and then do that, and do that. Treatment. Yeah. Treatment. So when you see, what?

[54:06] The cucumber. The cucumber. The cucumber on your eyes. Please, I need to finish.

[54:21] Please, please finish. I mean, it's nice. It's nice. Some of you, when you go to the supermarket, you have a particular soap you want to buy.

[54:32] Yeah. Some of you, actually, there's a particular lotion you use. It's only, you can only get it in her house. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Even though you don't have much money, you are giving your body a particular treatment.

[54:46] Yeah. Because you want your body to be treated well. Right? Yes. You treat your body so well, how about his body? How about his body?

[54:57] So, when you are an usher, it's likely you are adding some makeup to the body. Oh. When you are in the choir, whatever you do to serve the church, it's his body.

[55:08] Oh. That's why I kind of have a concern about you. about you. These are all your Christian claims. I've been a Christian for this. What is your usefulness in the church? You don't have to.

[55:18] You don't have to be in the church. You missed it. You missed it. I put it to you, you missed it. You missed it. You don't have value for the church because you don't know the God of the church. That's why.

[55:29] If you knew Christ in truth, your heart will be gravitating heavily towards church in spite of the members. because you're also the member.

[55:40] Yeah. Member. Look at that. Your body has members. The Bible said in Romans. It said even though we are many members, we are one body. But we do things to take care of our bodies.

[55:54] And when you go to the clinic and they want to take blood, some of you start crying, you're so sensitive about your body. So sensitive about your body.

[56:11] And anytime somebody does something nice to you, to give you a treatment, to make you feel comfortable, maybe you were sitting on a seat, it wasn't good, and you said, oh, sit here, and you feel comfortable. Don't you, you feel like, what can I do for this person?

[56:25] In the same way, if you go an extra mile for the church, an extra mile to just forgive that sister. If you can go an extra mile for the sake of the church, for the sake of his body, which is the church, you think he won't notice it?

[56:49] You think you won't catch his attention? Instead of this, plenty fast, the fast is important. Fast is important. If I say, is this not the fast that I've chosen? You have to undo some heavy burdens.

[57:03] You are fasting. January is about to come. You are prepared that this 2023 must be serious, but you still hold a major grudge against your departmental leader. Every time, they didn't let me sing.

[57:16] There's a reason why it was God who was behind it. That's why you didn't sing. I don't care what you think. It was God behind it. That's why you didn't sing. Because your heart is not right. Look at the way you're offended because you are not allowed to sing a part of show your power.

[57:33] It is God. All your agenda was to show your flesh. To let people know what you counseled. That's not what we want. We want people who Christ can manifest through.

[57:45] There's too much flesh inside you. You haven't seen it. We are helping you to grow and you don't want to grow. If you don't want to grow, now you say, I'm going. You go because you don't want to grow. Let's get over this fleshly Christian lifestyle.

[58:02] It's invading the church too much. And it's like many pastors, many pastors can't talk about it because they are afraid you will leave the church. You're actually not a Christian or a serious Christian and you go and meet the Father in the heaven.

[58:14] Serve the church. Serve the church. Humble yourself. Serve the church. Get busy about this, you Christian. Get busy. Get busy and serve. We are too much full.

[58:25] Sometimes we are too much full of ourselves. We are coming to church like you have gone to a place for customer, we call it service anyway. For customer service. They show you where to sit, you are fighting the usher.

[58:40] You can never, you can never accept where they, when I go to places, pastor, doesn't matter who I am, where they ask me to sit. Sometimes I don't like it. But the Christian in me will tell you, just follow it.

[58:52] I see. Yeah. You come to fight in church, your fight in life is big. Hey. Oh yeah. You don't have visa, you get to UKBA and you are going to argue with immigration office.

[59:05] You don't have visa. Hmm. The church is the body. The church, don't mind all those, all these church things, all these churches.

[59:16] You are so ignorant, you pass flip-pants comments about, listen, anytime you are going to use the word church, watch your words. Watch your words, because he's listening. Watch your words. Mind that, thank you.

[59:27] Mind your language. Yeah. When you are about to use the word church, church, all these church, church people, all these church, who are you? Who are you? Are you one of the church people?

[59:39] Oh, you are so important. Are you a stranger? I'm sure you are a stranger. That's all you do, all these churches. But when you are dealing with your family, all these family people, all these family people, you are still part of, you are ready, they will show up. An uncle with a longer teeth than every other.

[59:55] And you will come and break glasses and argue with everybody. You come and sit on the groom's chair. They say, please, I will sit here. I'm the uncle. And it's still your uncle, your mother's favorite brother.

[60:07] So what I'm trying to say is that Christ, watch this, watch this, Christ is actually the head of his body.

[60:23] That's the Christ we are talking about. The Christ who is not the head of the church is not the Christ of the Bible. It's a different Christ. Christ is the head.

[60:34] If he is the, by him all things were created equally, if he's the image of God, then equally, he's also the head of the church.

[60:45] Anytime we are handling the body of Christ, let's remember that. Let's remember that. And let me end by saying this. Please have it in your heart that you will dedicate your life for the service of the church.

[61:00] You can't serve a pastor. If you serve a pastor, you'll be disappointed. Because pastors are human beings. And some of them haven't finished catching much of Christ. We are all work in progress.

[61:13] Why don't you switch from serving a man of God to serving the God of the man? It will also help to severely mitigate these tantrums of offense.

[61:29] Every now and then you're offended. Every now and then you're offended. It's a sign you are not growing. It's a sign Satan has gotten closer and he's about to hurt you. Christ is the image of the invisible God.

[61:45] The firstborn of every creature. By him, all things hold together. All things were created by him and for him. And this God is the head of the body which is the church.

[62:00] Someone shout hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you for listening to this message by David Entry. You're welcome to connect with David Entry on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

[62:14] You can also find more Spirit-filled messages from Carriage Church on YouTube and all relevant streaming platforms. Don't forget to subscribe, like, and share the message.

[62:25] Be blessed. I'm a podcast. I'm a post...