Good Morning
Stand with me and lift up your bible and repeat after me.
This is my Bible.
I am what it says I am.
I can do what it says I can do.
I am going to learn how to be what it says I can be.
Today I will learn more of the word of God.
The indestructible, never ending, living word Of God.
I will never be the same.
I will never be the same.
In Jesus Name.
When Christ is all there is to life.....
Take God’s word and go to Colossians chapter 3.
When you find it, look up at me and say, “Amen”
Let me ask you a question.
What is Jesus Christ to you?
You may answer, “Jesus has a place in my life.” Jesus does not want just a place in your life.
He doesn’t want just a place in your life. Jesus desires, deserves, and demands, to be first…………..
Period…
How does Jesus get to be first in your life? I have asked myself that same question. I want you to look at the scripture with that question in mind.
Verse 11; “Here there is not Greek or Jew, circumcision, uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.”
Now, I want to talk to you today about this: “When Christ is all.”
Verse 11 says, “Christ is all”
All. Period. Not like a glass that is half full or almost full, but full.
All. Well, if Christ is all, then that leaves nothing out. It means He is everything.
Now, that’s a big question: Is Jesus Christ all to you? I mean, is He all, and is He IN all?
Well, Paul just said it another way in verse 4, when he says, “Christ…..is our life” (Colossians 3:4)
Now, Jesus doesn’t just give life; He is our life.
“For to me to live is Christ (Philippians 1:21), is what Paul said, in another place. He is our life; He doesn’t just point to life. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
So, Christ is our life.
I know a lot of people.
I know judges, pastors, football players, people in government. I know a lot of people.
But I know of them.
You probably can know a lot about people also.
It’s kind of like being on Facebook where people will may have 5,218 friends.
Really?
Do we know who they really are?
Now, you can have knowledge about someone without knowing that person. You could have knowledge about a senator, movie star, president, or king, without knowing that person.
But, you, see, we don’t just receive knowledge of Jesus; our life is knowing Jesus. “This is life eternal that they might know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent (John 17:3). It is Jesus only. He is all and in all. It is not knowledge about Jesus. It is not Jesus plus anything. It is not something after Jesus.
Now, you can get to know Jesus better, but you can never know anything better than Jesus. You can go deeper into Jesus, but you can never go beyond Jesus. Again, Paul says, in verse 11 that, “Christ is all and in all” (Colossians 3:11).
How does that work making Christ...all?
First. We Have Been Crucified with Christ
First of all, we have been crucified with Christ. Look in verse 3: “for you are dead.” (Colossians 3:3). Did you know you’re looking at a dead man? I’ve been crucified; so have you. I died with Christ; His death had my name on it. The old David died when I accepted Christ.
35 years ago.
That was my funeral service. The chief mourner who was there was the devil; he hated to see his old buddy die.
But, we are dead.
Second. We Have Been Raised with Christ
And, not only are we dead, but, according to this passage of Scripture, we also have been raised. So, you have been raised from the dead. Look in verse 1: “If you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above.
Where the Messiah is seated at the right hand of God”. (Colossians 3:1)
We died with Him;
And, we are risen with Him.
Third. We Live with Christ in us.
Amen?
When we are upset and angry with something that has just happened in our lives, do we want to go nuts and yell and scream about it and curse or use profanity?
Who is living in us?
Wow...
It changes our outlook on life.
You will not hear me scream out profanities when someone does me wrong.
Ask my wife and best friend and she will tell you. That does not happen.
That is the old man.
Sisters and Brothers,
He is everything.
Christ is all.
What happens in my life, what is necessary and true, when I say that, “Christ is my life,” and I say that Christ is all and in all.. Col 3:11)
Jesus captivates my ambition.
Now, what we seek in life is what our ambition is. Your ambition is to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. The devil doesn’t care what on earth you may seek, as long as you do not seek things that are above.
But we are risen with Christ, seek those which are above. (Col. 3:1)
Now some of the things that you might be prone to seek that we find in the world.
Things of the world. Things that we have to have to satisfy us and our image of what we want to be.
Our clothes.
Our home,
Our car,
Our jewelry,
Things of the world.
Religions of the world.
Not of Christ.
Over the last 20+ years of sharing the word I have been amazed at two things; number one, that men will not believe the truth right away and number two, what people will believe.
People will believe almost anything they see on TV. Or on the internet.
They believe it whether it is true or untrue.
But some will not believe the word of God.
Satan is not against religion as long as it’s the religions of the world.
What we need to do is grow closer to God. We all do.
What we need to do is to; “Grow in the grace of and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18)
Christianity is not a legal relationship; it is a love relationship.
It is a relationship with one who loves us more that we will ever know while we live this life here on the planet earth.
I will never say what things we should do and not do but the difference is whether it will worship God or not.
Now you can read your Bible with of a will of worship..
Do you ever get the idea that you are going to read so many chapters of the Bible each day and it’s going to make you a better Christian?
Not necessarily.
I don’t believe that you can read your bible and not love God….
What I am saying is this; none of the things of the world……
The reasons of the world, the rituals of the world, and the religions of the world can make you or me like Jesus.
We just need to remember, Christ is all and in all.
We are to seek Jesus. Jesus captivates our ambition. We are to seek Him in all we do.
We are to seek Him like a butterfly goes from flower to flower.
We are to seek Him when we are frustrated, aggravated, upset and the other things in life that come at us to ruin our days.
We are to seek Him and thank Him and talk to Him and praise Him as much as we can.
We are to read the word as much as we can and get to know more of what has happened in life to give us His love for us.
Jesus captivates my attention but when I spend more time with Him, He dominates my attention.
I can block out the horrible things that are happening in our world easier. “Set your affection on things above, not on the earth.” (Col 3:2)
The word affection means attention. That is what you seek you have to send your mind to, because the Bible says, “As a man thinks, so is he, (Proverbs 23:7)
I am to set to try and spend more time to read the word and trying to put Jesus first in all I do. I try but I am not perfect at it.
I want to let Jesus to direct more of my actions.
Jesus who captivates my ambitions, Jesus, who captivates my ambitions, Jesus, who dominates my attention is the Jesus who is to regulate my actions that I take in my life.
David is going to continue to try put Jesus as more of a priority in my life and become more disciplined in my walk with Him.
If Christ is in my life, then I am to live like Christ, He is my all in all.
“Christ is all, and in all”
What is this Christian life? It is not this church, it is not prayer, it is not the Bible, it is not doing good.
It is spending more time with Jesus and putting our past in the past and becoming more focused in Him in this world we live in…..
Let us pray…………
