The Born Supremacy Series

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• When you think of some of the greats or those reigned supreme in their areas of achievement, what made them supreme?

• People like Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, Bill Gates, Thomas Edison, George Washington, and Billy Graham; they all did something that set them apart from the crowd.

• This is an impressive list of people, and I bet we could add to that list if we wanted to take the time.

• All of these people made the most of their opportunities, some of them in the face of deep adversity.

• These people will be remembered for a long time. They have left their mark and staked their claims to greatness.

• Now I want to mention another name, the name above all names, Jesus!

• What is it that makes Him great? What puts Him on the list of greatness?

• Is there something about Him that makes you want to follow Him, something that makes you want to have Him be a part of your life?

• When Paul penned this letter to the Colossian Church, there were people who were saying a lot of false things about Jesus.

• I am glad that does not happen today!

• Today we are going to examine four things that make Jesus supreme. These four things should help motivate us to want to follow Him and make Him the object of our affection, the center of our life!

• Let’s turn to Colossians 1, we will be in verses 15-20, we will begin in verse 15!

• SLIDE #2

• Colossians 1:15 (ESV) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

• SLIDE #3

SERMON

Jesus is SUPREME because…

I. Jesus is the image of the invisible God! (15)

• If you watch any NBA, you will hear a lot of people asking who the next Michael Jordan will be. You also hear a lot of people compare LeBron James to Jordan.

• In sports, people always want to know who the next person is going to be like the previous star of the league or the team.

• With Jesus, people do not have to ask who the next Jesus because Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He is the ONE and ONLY begotten of God!

• SLIDE #4

• John 14:7–9 (ESV) If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

• When people looked at Jesus, they were looking at the image of God, not someone who was god-like or some cheap imitation, He was God.

• When I worked for Square D Company, we did a lot of business in Mexico. Some people from our facility were sent to Mexico to help train the workers in the Mexico plant.

• Many of them came back with Rolex watches.

• Do you know how much a Rolex costs? They are high dollar watches to say the least. People were paying $20 to $60 for these “Rolex” watches.

• They sure looked good, they looked like Rolex watches. They were cheap initiations of the real thing.

• I purchased one a few years ago when I went to Mexico, it did not last long!

• Imitations never do.

• Many people try to get to God by purchasing some cheap low-cost imitation, they never last nor will they work!

• SLIDE #5

• John 14:6 (ESV) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

• The word IMAGE was used in Paul’s time for the likenesses placed on coins, portraits, and for statues. We get the English word ICON, referring to a statue.

• It carries the idea of representation of the original. It is the word the represented the nearest equivalent in the ancient Greek to our modern photography.

• It tells us that Jesus is the perfect representation of God.

• When God created us, we were created in His image (Genesis 1:26-27), but that image got marred by sin. Jesus is the perfect image of God, He is what we were created to be.

• SLIDE #6

• Genesis 1:26–27 (ESV) Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.