R1654 Looking to Jesus, Pt.1

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilton and a message called, Looking to Jesus. As we open God's Word together, know that we're open to pray with you and for you anytime on our website, tewonline.org.

That's tewonline.org. We'd love to connect with you. Now today's teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. You're going to need your Bibles this morning. Now I want you to turn to Colossians chapter 1 and verse 15. I wish that I could say to you what is in my heart and perhaps the Lord will allow me to do so. You are going to be blessed by this passage. I want to speak to you on the subject, Looking to Jesus.

What a wonderful name, the Lord Jesus. Looking to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our lives. Before I read this passage, I want to tell you just a very brief story.

You see, on 9-11, 2001, I know exactly where I was. And I'd like to tell you, when I got up that morning, like most of us, I got an urgent phone call. Two of the most precious people that I have ever had the privilege of knowing in my life. Dr. Jack and Miss Christina Cleland.

This is 20 years ago. And that sweet and most precious mother was about to deliver her first baby. And we knew that there were complications. And as I got into my motor car and drove down to the regional hospital, the news began to break. And I arrived at the hospital knowing full well that something was happening.

Pictures were appearing on the television sets at the hospital. But my mind was focused on one precious couple. My heart was being pulled away because my nation was under attack. And I'll never forget that day because that beautiful little girl, Grace, was born. And I stood there with that precious couple as that beautiful little baby girl was picked up by the Lord Jesus. And taken from their heart into the presence of Jesus.

I have a vivid and clear picture in my mind that day. Of a sweet mommy and a sweet daddy with a broken heart. I don't have to tell you about Dr. Jack and Miss Christina Cleland today. Because those of us who are privileged to call them friends look now into the faces of three incredible sons. They are wonderful young men that were not here on that day.

But now they are. Into the faces of a mother and father who have grown in the grace and knowledge and admonition of the Lord Jesus. A medical doctor. A mother who seemed to know no end in serving and giving of themselves to others. You see, they looked to Jesus. Here in Colossians chapter 1, and from verse 15 all the way really till the end of the chapter to verse 29, Paul looks at these people in the midst of all of their struggles and their questions. And I'm putting the words into his mouth, but as God spoke through him, he looked at these people and he said, here's the solution. Look to Jesus. I just want to say this to you.

I hadn't planned to say this. If you worship the Lord Jesus today, what is it that's in your heart? What are you going through?

Which of your twin towers is burning right now? What wells up in your heart? You know, life is unkind in so many different ways. It's unfair.

It doesn't seem to discriminate against old and young and rich and poor, from health issues to financial issues, to horrible things like abuse. Some of you have been so badly treated. Someone hurt you badly, didn't they? You've been the subject of gossip, racial discrimination. You've looked into the face of anger and hostility. You've been treated so unfairly. You've been accused, haven't you?

Wrongly. And even sometimes when it was right and you set the record straight, they just don't seem to want to really forgive, do they? Are you just a persistently unforgiven person? It's like, what else do you need to do to ask someone to forgive you? What more do you need to do? Some of you have even been to prison.

What more do you need to do? You've paid your debt. Somebody today is looking at me and you're branded.

It's like you did something 25 years ago, and things will go fine for six months, and then here comes again and somebody wants to expose the brand mark. Let everybody know who you are. And Paul here writing to the church at Colossae says the following, and I'd like to read this to you. Church believers, Jesus, verse 15, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, where the thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church.

He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so then in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Jesus, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once upon a time you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour, but now God has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you wholly in his sight without blemish and free from accusation. If you continue in your faith established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel, this is the gospel you have heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven of which I Paul have become a servant. So now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's affliction for the sake of his body which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness, the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to all believers. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone perfect and complete in Christ, and so it is to this end our labor struggling with all God's energy which so powerfully works in me. May the Lord Jesus cause us to see him high and lifted up.

Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back in just a moment with the rest of today's message, but as we launch this wonderful month of celebrating, making holidays, holy days, we have tremendous resources on our website that might help you do that. T-E-W online.org is the place to go whether it's a daily devotional to help someone launch the year in God's Word or perhaps if they're touched by the ministry of Billy Graham like we have been, you might not realize Dr. Don Wilton was the pastor to Billy Graham for the last 20 years of his life. He has a wonderful book called Saturdays with Billy that's available on our website as well.

That's T-E-W online.org. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. This is Jesus and what Paul does here is he begins by just making a statement. He says this Jesus of whom we speak is the very image of God.

What did he mean by that? Why does he want us to understand that when we look to Jesus, that he in fact is the beginning and the end, that it's in him that we live and we move and we have our being. Very simply put, because what he's trying to tell us there in verse 15 is that Jesus is both the representation and the manifestation of all that God is. What that means is that Jesus not only represents God to us, but as the manifestation of God, he embodies everything that God is and shows us clearly the fullness of the Godhead. Jesus says, look at me and you have it all. You don't have to look anywhere else.

You don't have to go anywhere else. What Paul wanted these people to know is that Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end. He's the first and the last. It's in him that the fullness of God is. In other words, what he's saying is that Jesus is the full, he is the final, and he is the complete revelation of God. He is the unanimous testimony of Scripture. It is that Jesus Christ is the one who does it all. Somebody say, amen.

I love that. I want you to bow your heads with me. Every head bowed.

And I feel led to do something this morning. If you need special prayer, I'm going to ask you, wherever you're sitting in the hangar, wherever you're sitting in the auditorium, if you need special prayer in the name of Jesus, I'm going to ask you just quietly get up from your seat and come and stand here with me. If you need special prayer for any reason, if you have somebody that needs special prayer, I'm going to ask you to come and stand here. Just stand here looking toward me. In Genesis, just come down.

Just stand there. You're praying today for a son that you love. You're praying for a daughter. You're praying for healing. You have a special prayer for this country. You're praying for yourself. I don't need to say a whole lot. God is going to say it to you.

Just get up and come. Paul looked at the people at Colossae. He said, look to Jesus, and he began by saying, this is who God is. This is Jesus. The last verse, verse 29, is what God is speaking to me about. To this end, Paul said, I labor. He was speaking about himself struggling with all God's energy which so powerfully works in me.

With every head bowed. Lord Jesus, I don't know why I suddenly did this today, but I really believe that you told me to do it. There is nothing in me any more than there was in Paul, any more than there was in Billy Graham, any more than there was or is in any person, because we're all sinners saved only by the grace of God. And I do know, Lord, I do know that you called me to serve in this place.

Today, I'm an instrument in your hands. Lord, standing here today in Genesis, in celebration, people Lord, in nursing homes, worshiping by way of television, those on Facebook, those live streaming right now. Perhaps, Lord, someone in a faraway country that we hear from regularly through the encouraging word broadcast. Maybe someone being persecuted right now. Maybe someone about to get a knock on their door by the Taliban. I don't know, Lord, but you do.

Someone living in a country where they can't even speak the name of Jesus. And here we are in America today. But Lord, it's so much more than that because we are a people, Lord. We want so badly to be whole and happy and content. We want to be kind and gracious.

We want to serve you. We know that you've forgiven us and if there's any person today who has not yet repented of their sin and received the full forgiveness, the reconciliation made possible by the shed blood of Jesus. Lord, I pray right now that they would just simply trust you. Pray that prayer.

Be born again of the Spirit. But Lord Jesus, right now there are people standing. People, Lord, who have every kind of circumstance. People, Lord, who have lost babies, who have miscarried. People, Lord, who are struggling with finances. People whose marriages are right on the edge of breaking apart. People, Lord, who have deep physical needs. People, Lord, whose lives are on the edge. Lord, someone today who's been diagnosed with cancer or with some stage of some sickness that is just affecting their lives. Someone, Lord, who for years has had debilitating health issues.

Someone today who just struggles to walk down the road. Lord, I pray, oh God, we want to look to Jesus right now. I hold out my hands in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And I pray in Jesus' name. I pray in Jesus' name that Lord Jesus, each one of us as we look to Jesus, we would know that we are seeing the full final and complete revelation of God. That you, Jesus, are the unanimous testimony of Scripture. You are the representation of God and the full embodiment of all that God is.

For God so loved the world. You are the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. May Spirit come down upon us as a people, infiltrate our being, energize us by your Spirit and by your divine power. Answer our prayer, oh God. Answer our prayer. We cry out to you together, Lord Jesus, we love you today.

We love you and we look to you. You are the author and the finisher of our lives. You are Jesus, Emmanuel. You are God with us.

You are God in us. And there is none like unto thee. Forgive us, oh God, for we have sinned against you. Restore us and restore to us the joy of your salvation. May we stand as a people and proclaim the name of Jesus.

May we be salt and light in our tasteless world. Take us, Lord Jesus, and let us become different makers for Christ. And Lord, as the band begins to get ready to play, as the pianist and organist get ready to play, as people go back to their seats today, we just simply worship you, Lord Jesus. As we pray this prayer together in Jesus' name and for His sake alone. Amen. Amen.

Let's stand together as these go back to their seats. Our Savior is mighty, mighty to save. Such powerful teaching from Dr. Don Wilton in the pulpit now.

Would you open your heart to what he wants to share as he steps into the studio next? Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. We prayed along with Dr. Wilton moments ago, rededicating your life to Christ or giving your life to Jesus for the first time. Dr. Wilton has wonderful resources he wants you to have absolutely free to help you grow in your faith. Just call us at 866-899-WORD and share your decision. That's 866-899-9673 or meet us online at www.tewonline.org. It's our prayer that while you're there you'll discover who we are and the opportunities you might have at this unique time to invest prayerfully and financially in the ministry of the Encouraging Word. We are excited to announce that a friend of the ministry has donated $200,000 as a challenge gift and has extended a challenge to our donors to give an additional $300,000 by December 31st. This challenge is to fund our television broadcasting. Would you prayerfully consider a donation to this challenge? Please call 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673 to give a donation and be sure to tell them that this is for the match challenge. Thank you for your support of the Encouraging Word. Again, it's our prayer you'll consider getting involved at this unique time. This is a ministry that is bearing fruit on a daily basis of people giving their lives to Christ. But we could share that with even more with your help. Discover more at www.tewonline.org. You can call for a brochure on who we are at 866-899-9673. Just know we would love to connect with you.