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Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the Internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue to be able to help you. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage.

We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family. your Bible and turn to the book of Colossians. The book of Colossians, the book of Colossians, chapter 1, page 1262, and we want to look at verse 15 through 21. And these are some very good verses. I love these verses because it satisfies the question that you have.

Who is God? What did He do? What’s He up to? Isn’t it wonderful that we have a God that revealed who He is, what He’s doing, where we came from, what we’re doing, where we’re going, what He has for us. And then He says, you haven’t got a clue what all I have for you. I have not seen, you have not heard, neither has entered to the heart of men the things which God has prepared but them that love Him.

So there’s a lot of things God has left unknown. But He has called the invisible God. We live in a world that we can see. We got people we can see. we can see. We got things we can touch and feel here. And so it’s hard for us to fathom somebody that’s invisible. So Jesus Christ is the revelation of God the Father. He reveals the Father. And everything we want to know about God was just steady Christ. He is the perfect express image of God.

And if you look there in Colossians in chapter 1 and looked in verse 15 referring to Christ because he goes up there to verse 13 where he talks about his dear son. His dear son, God the Father had a son. In verse 14 in whom the son we have redemption because of a payment that he made through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. See, being redeemed means that you have been forgiven. It means that you don’t have to pay for your sins.

Isn’t that a good thing? And to think when Christ died for me, it means that I don’t have to pay for my sins. And if He paid for all of my sins, I don’t have to pay for any of my sins. I know it’s not fair. It’s just not right. That’s what mercy is all about. I didn’t get what I deserve. Grace is that I got something that I don’t deserve. I got so much more. And so he says here in verse 15, who is the image of the invisible God?

Now the word invisible God means that this is exclusive. Have you ever watched the news and you see them come on under that? This is an exclusive. What do they mean it’s an exclusive? It means that they got the only report. They’re the only ones that’s getting to tell you this and you’re so fortunate to be tuned in and you got to hear it from us. First, well, Jesus is talking about the Father and the Father is the invisible God and the invisible God is an exclusive.

And I want you to take your Bible turn into the book of Timothy. Timothy chapter one and notice there in verse Get the right scripture here. First chapter one verse 17. See them verse 17. He says, now unto the king eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God. Now that’s who he is. The only wise God. There is no other God beside him. You read the book of Isaiah and it’ll tell you over and over again. There is no other God beside me.

There is no other God over and over and over again. He is the king eternal, that means forever. Immortal, not subject to die, invisible, you cannot see God. And yet what is the desire of almost everybody? Well, if there is a God, kill me some evidence, prove it to me. And everybody would love to have some evidence. And I believe that the world itself is the evidence. I am part of the evidence that there’s a God because I didn’t make me and you didn’t make me.

God made me. It’s only natural for us to assume since the world is here either it made itself or somebody made it. Well since we didn’t make it and it’s here somebody else did and we’ve never seen something come from nothing. So it has to be somebody that was invisible that created the heavens and the earth. This is what the Word of God tells us. You’ll notice the Word of God does not run from any of the questions that any man may ask.

God has put it into his Word. It seems like all the answers for every man’s questions. The answer is in the book. If people would only read the book. And notice what he says here in verse 15, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. This word firstborn is kind of like the word architect, the designer, the beginner of creation itself. You see he was before all things and by him all things consist. He is the Lord.

Now there’s some of I want you to see in that next verse. You see there in verse 16, for by Him were all things created. And if all things were created by Him, then there could not be anything that created Him. He created all things that were created. So which means that He was not created? It means that God the Father was not created. They have always been. God, the Father, cannot be an eternal Father without an eternal Son.

So they were not created. But I do want you to see this verse. Look there in the book of Revelation 3.14, Revelation chapter 3 and verse 14. Revelation 3.14, this is written to the church at Laodicea. And says here in verse 14, and unto the angel of the church of the lay of the sins, right, these things sayeth the amen, the faithful and the true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. He was first in time, first in rank.

He was the beginning of the creation of God. He caused the world to exist, And he was the first being. He has had over all creation. He is God. Take your Bible and just turn it to the gospel of John in chapter 1. The gospel of John in chapter 1. We won’t turn there, but you know there’s a verse in the Bible that says, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. So in the beginning it says, God created the heavens and the earth.

Now look there in John chapter one. And you notice in John chapter one, that this is very simple and easy for you to follow. But make notes in your Bible because we have a, well, this problem of forgetting. We don’t always remember. And sometimes by having a couple of little notes here and there, you’ll remember, okay, we went to this verse, and then we went to that verse. So write those verses down, you know where you just came from over there in the book of Revelation chapter 3 verse 14, and by that one you would maybe put John chapter 1 in verse 1 so that you remember.

See in verse 1 it says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word… What does it say? Was God, now if you have a translation that says the word was a God, you have the wrong translation. That’s what you’ll find in the New World translation by the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Those are wrong. They are not a translation that is an interpretation because it disagrees with their philosophy, their theology. So they write a Bible that agrees with what they want it to say.

But it says, the word was God and verse two, the same was in the beginning with God. So whenever it was, Jesus was there and He was God. And it says in verse three, all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made, that was made. So that means He was not created, Jesus Himself. He has always existed. Now when he came into the world and took upon flesh, that’s not when Jesus began. I guess you could say Jesus as a man, but as the son of God, he’s always been.

And it makes the statement there in verse 10, look at verse 10. He was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not. So he was in the world, the world was made by him. Doesn’t that tell you that the one that came into the world created the world? That’s what the book says. And it says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.

And verse 14, you’ll notice it says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us the word. Now, who is the word God? And who dwelt among us? God. God took upon flesh. So when we say Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, it’s the truth. Jesus Christ was not just a man, a prophet, a good teacher. He was God in the flesh. He created the world and he came into the world. That’s why he could walk on water, forgive sins, and raise the dead, and make the blindest seed, the depth to hear, the dumb to speak.

That’s why he could do all of those things right, because he was God. He was God. Look there what he says in verse 12, but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, to them that believe on his name. So God that created the world, and God that came into the world and took upon flesh. Says he came unto his own which was the nation of Israel, and they received them not.

Now he was in the world, but the world knew him not. But he says, then that believe on him as many as believe would become the sons of God. So that’s why that’s such a wonderful thing. Take your Bible and turn there to the book of Hebrews in chapter one, Hebrews in chapter 1. There’s a wonderful statement found here. Hebrews and chapter 1. Look there in verse 1 where it says, God who had sundry times and in divers manners spake in time pass unto the fathers by the prophets.

So God says in time pass in the Old Testament that God spoke to the nation of Israel by the prophets. But then it says, but had in these last days, the last days, spoken unto us by his son. And his son is God. And the Son is the one that created the heavens and the earth. Now, God did reveal Himself. God does want us to know. But you see, there’s a thing called faith. God wants us to believe Him, to trust Him.

We’re not talking about trusting something that’s not real or true, but God has placed eternity into the hearts of every individual. We don’t have to teach people that there is a God. People teach themselves years later that there is no God, but people, even children, is so easy to convince them that there’s a God. People know there’s a God. That’s why there’s religions all over the world. They just don’t know God. They don’t know who He is and what He’s like.

You and I that know the truth, God says, going to all the world and priests, the gospel, the good news to every creature. God loves every individual. God wants everybody to have eternal life and to go to heaven. And And notice what he says in verse 2, hath in these last days. Spoken unto us by his son. This is when he gave his final word. Whom he hath appointed heir of all things. Get this by whom also he made the world.

See God the Father created the world by his son. So his son gets the credit for creating the world, but his son did all things under the authority of the Father. And even when Jesus was here, he says, I do not anything of my own power, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. So you have the father, the son, the Holy Spirit. Now I can’t make anybody believe anything. But even though I cannot explain it all, I don’t have to.

I don’t care to. Because see, I do have this thing where I have the ability to believe, the ability to trust. And I believe that if God is right on so many things, He’s probably right on the things that I don’t understand. And since I have not in 52 years found any corrections in the Bible, any need to say, well, you know, there’s a mistake in the Bible. I haven’t found any mistakes in this book. I’ve heard people say, oh, I just loaded.

There’s a spouse. They’re everywhere. Show it to me. Well, it’s in there. Show me one. We can’t do it. What? It’s not in there. There are seemingly contradictions, but that doesn’t mean it’s a contradiction just because you don’t understand it. Now look in verse 3, verse 3, who, referring to Christ, being the brightness of His glory, the express image of His person and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.

So Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was God in the flesh who created the heavens and the earth. And then he makes the statement here upholding all things by the word of his power. When he had by himself purged our sins or paid for our sins. See, See, the Lord Jesus Christ does not need your help. He does not need my help. He took care of the sin problem. You don’t have to do anything about the sin problem that gets us to heaven.

When Christ died, how many of our sins did He pay for? All of them. And since they’re all paid, why doesn’t everybody go to heaven? Because God says, only those that believe that He did it for them. on the level that anybody can have it. If you believe that he did it for you, the payment he made is put to your account and you get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did. That to me is somebody, mighty good news.

Now go back to the book of Colossians in chapter 1. And you’ll notice there, he says in verse 16, for by him were all things created better in heaven and better in earth. Visible, that means everything that you see. And plus he says there’s things you don’t see. Hold your place right here and just look at this verse with me in Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. This is on page 1301 in an old Schofill reference Bible or one of the church’s Bibles.

And you’ll notice what he says about the word faith. You see there in Hebrews in chapter 11, look in verse 1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. In other words, you believe because God said it. You haven’t seen it, but see trusting God who does not lie, who only tells the truth and gives the facts. Me trusting in the truth and me trusting in the fact is not blind faith. Just because I don’t see how God’s going to do it, but I can believe and trust in the one that promise and who does not lie.

So my faith is in somebody that gives me the evidence, it is real, he is real. And I can trust him. I got something solid for my faith and it’s rock solid. And he makes his statement in verse two. For by it, the elders obtained a good report. Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. So that things which are seen, get this, things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

Things, things which are seen, were not made of things which do appear. That means they were made by something that does not appear. They say that there’s things that we cannot see even with the natural eye. But when you study the book of Corinthians, 2 Corinthians in chapter 4, it talks an awful lot about. We see. That which is invisible by faith. And many people only trust in that which they can see. But the things which you can see are going to fade away one day.

God says it’s all going to go up in smoke. Wouldn’t it be a shame to trust that which does not last, which cannot save? So you and I, we are trusting in the true and living God. Go back there to the book of Colossians in chapter 1. one, and there’s a statement made here that I think is very good where he makes the statement visible and invisible, whether there be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him.

The last part of that verse you ought to underline this verse where he says, all things were created by him and for him. Why did God make you. Why did God make me? All things were created by Him and for Him. You were created by God for God. Now you haven’t seen yet what God has for you. Sometimes you haven’t really seen the purpose that God has. What does He want to reveal? What’s behind all of this? And so He says, and I want you to understand this, you see when you study evolution, evolution is things that happens over a period of time, millions and billions of years.

And if you have enough time, anything is possible. Or at least that’s what they say. So evolution is over a period of time. Creation is a point in time. There is a beginning. A beginning happens when God created and God said let there be light and 15 million years later here comes a glimmer. No God said let there be light and there was light and one day one revolutionary turn of the earth, morning and an evening or even in a morning, one day, and God says let there be trees, let there be grass, and let there be this, and let there be that.

And God said it and there it was. And it didn’t happen over billions of years. God can speak and it can happen. Now, I want you to take your Bible looking. Second Peter chapter 3. Second Peter chapter 3. Second Peter chapter 3. There’s this comment made about those people in the last days that are going to laugh and scoff and says, where’s the promise of His coming? Well, if you look there in verse 4, He says, and saying, where’s the promise of His coming?

For since the Father’s fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the evolution. No, beginning of creation. Creation, a point in time, something began. See, God doesn’t need all of that. God is a orderly God. He does everything decently and in order. God has things set in time, and there’s things that God says is going to take place and he says he will come again but he will come back when he’s ready to come back.

He will not be late. I don’t believe he’ll be late one second. He’ll be here on time as he said he would but there’s things that God wants to do and what he wants to accomplish. Now while we’re right here just look there in Revelation chapter 4 and verse Verse 11, Revelation 4 and verse 11, you’re so close to it, just look at this verse. I like this verse because it also, and I preach on it many times, especially camps when I want teenagers to understand a little bit more about what God wants, what they should do with their lives.

So many times all we want to do is just please ourselves, make ourselves happy. You know, we try to do all the things, get what we want in order to make me happy. I want to enjoy. Well, look what he says here in verse 11 and talking to the Lord. And it looks like it’s a scene that takes place in heaven. It looks like it’s something that takes place around the, um, judgments of the Christ. It looks like something where somebody has some rewards and some crowns and they cast him at his feet.

And then he says there in verse 11, thou art worthy. Oh Lord. to receive glory and honor and power. Now in this life… Every one of us, we want a little glory, honor, power. You know how people want money because money is power? I can buy what I want. I can get what I want. Therefore, I need money. So people worship money. But in order to get all of that money to make you happy, because you don’t want just money, you want what money can buy you.

And whenever you search and crave money and love money more than anything else in the world, then the Bible says you will be pierced through with arrows. It means you’re going to bring sorrow upon yourself and therefore it will lead to your own destruction. But it makes a statement, to receive glory and honor and power for a vow hath created all things and for a thy pleasure they are and were created. So we know who created everything, we know why God did to please him.

So you see God wasn’t created to please me, I was created to please God. In other words, God, he doesn’t revolve around me. I revolve around him. So I should find out what it is that pleases God. God says he has no pleasure in the wicked. So if I live a wicked life, then I don’t believe God is pleased. So I’m not bringing pleasure to God. You see, that’s why in life you have to know a little bit about what joy is, what honor is, what praise is, what glory is, or you wouldn’t know or think God deserves anything like that.

So you wouldn’t know what it means to grieve the Holy Spirit if you didn’t have grief in this life. You wouldn’t understand what the pains of hell were going to be like if you had never been heard in this life and had pain in this life. And boy, I’ve had some of that. Go back there now to the book of Colossians and look there in verse 16, the last part of it. You ought to underline that verse in your Bible.

All things were created by Him and for Him. Now look at verse 17, verse 17. And He is before all things. He is before all things. And by I am all things consist or held together. He’s the only thing, the only one that’s keeping things from pukhing, flying apart. You realize one of these days what’s going to happen to this whole world? Everything’s going to explode. I’m going to be safe with him. Now I don’t really know where you’re going to be, but I’m going to be with the Lord.

Are you going to be with the Lord? You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. Part 2 of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach by the line and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771.

To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible line programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the radio broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. friend one day it will happen the trumpet will sound and we will be changed caught up to meet the Lord in the air so live today and every day believe in that the Lord is coming soon and just keep looking up