The last time I posted a sermon here,* I was preaching at Highland Baptist Church in Fitchburg, MA. My family ended up leaving there, and while I don't feel it's necessary to go into details here because it wasn't over anything terrible or sinful that we would need to call them out over, it is important for you to know that we landed at a church called Bethany Bible Chapel (commonly "The Chapel") in Winchendon, MA. There, I've been able to continue my education in an accredited church-based training program called Antioch School built around establishing competency and learning within the context of the life of the church. The experience there has already proven very beneficial to my growth and understanding of the function of the church and of church leadership, and I'm looking forward to completing my degree there and getting into the field. I'm actually planning on adapting some of the work I do for that program into posts for this blog.
Ortlund argues that this passage is a rare moment of Christ revealing his very heart to us in the gospels, and that if we taking it seriously, we will build our understanding of who He is and what He does as pouring from this heart. The book then goes on to address other passages that expand on this idea in some way or another.
This past Sunday the pastor was away, and I was given my first opportunity to preach at the Chapel. I was given clearance to choose my own passage and topic, though we did discuss what I'd chosen beforehand. I felt drawn to do a parallel concept to the sermon series, and as such set out to explore what the heart of Christ means for us as Christians. I built it out from Colossians 1:15-23. I preached from the ESV, but due to the legal statements I've chosen to use on this site, I quote it here from the 1995 edition of the New American Standard Bible: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach-- if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister."
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Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation
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