-Transcript-
00:26 Amen. Thank you for joining me. Welcome to the program. If you can believe it, we are on the very last series of the first season of the KJV Cafe podcast.
00:38 Now, I am not a calendar nerd, but I’m pulling up my calendar right now. We should be, Lord willing, if this is correct, on episode 362, originally airing on the 29th of December, 2023. And we’re going to have 365 episodes taking us to the new year.
01:01 And then we’re going to start season two. So some housekeeping stuff. Number one, thank you for listening.
01:07 Number two, the program has done very well, amen. I know that people probably don’t care too much about this stuff.
01:16 I’ll keep it very brief, other than to say we have had many listeners, thousands of listeners, tens of thousands of listeners actually in the US and abroad, mostly on mobile phones, mostly on Apple and Spotify.
01:36 And we’ve had them really faithful, you know, really almost from the start, you know, it’s grown pretty much every month more and more, but we’ve had a lot of faithful listeners in North America, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, Nigeria, India, Brazil, Spain, man, just awesome.
01:58 So we’ve had a lot of downloads, a lot of listens, and I appreciate every single one of you. So let’s just get that there out the way.
02:09 We are moving to a very similar format on season two. So season two will start, Lord willing, I believe, Jan 2nd. And that will be a 15-minute Bible study through the Bible, starting in Genesis, all the way through Revelation, if the Lord tarries.
02:27 So that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to go through the Bible. And I estimate it’s going to take a very long time, 15 minutes at a time, amen.
02:37 But excited for that. I mean, especially Genesis. I mean, just spending time in Genesis is awesome.
02:43 You have the creation account, Abrahamic covenant, and so much more there. So looking forward to that. You don’t have to do anything.
02:53 I think it’ll just auto-update. And when you’re looking at KJV Cafe, it’ll show, okay, you’re on season two now, come the 2nd of January.
02:59 And then also too, we have the KJV Cafe weekend edition, which airs on Fridays and Saturdays.
03:06 And that’s a 30-minute podcast. And that’s just search up weekend edition or KJV Cafe weekend, and you’ll see it there. So check that out as well, amen.
03:15 But this is the last four-part series of the first season of KJV Cafe. And we are looking at the title here, All Things by Him, from Colossians 1:16-20. I’m going to read this passage of scripture.
03:31 I’m really today going to just focus on verse 16 and verse 17. Colossians 1: 16-20.
03:40 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
03:53 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
04:07 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
04:24 Allright. So that’s Colossians 1:16-20. And we’re talking about Jesus creating all things here. And in order to really preface this, I want to go to John 1. I’m going to read 1-5, a very familiar passage of scripture.
04:42 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And that Word, Word, is capital W. That’s Jesus, right? Verse 2, the same was in the beginning with God.
04:53 And here we have verse 3, very interesting, because I think Paul is kind of pulling the same thought here.
05:00 Verse 3 of John 1. All right. And many pastors can take verse 5 and really get after it there. The idea that darkness doesn’t comprehend the light and the darkness doesn’t like the light and certainly doesn’t understand it.
05:18 But we are going to start here by just looking at the light. And verse 3 of John 1 here says, So what does that mean? I mean, think about it. Verse 1 of Colossians 16, or excuse me, Colossians, yeah, excuse me.
05:48 Verse 16 of Colossians 1. All things were created by him and for him. What that means here today is that God, specifically Jesus Christ, we’re talking about the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ created all things.
06:05 And so God created the political system that you and I are experiencing here today.
06:16 God created the feeling of heartache that you may have today. God created the feeling of frustration. God created the sin curse.
06:22 God created man. Now, yes, the devil beguiled man, but who created the devil? God. God created everything.
06:32 Nothing is above God. Right. And that word there we have in Colossians is preeminence in verse 18.
06:41 And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. Okay. And so Jesus Christ is fully God and fully creator.
06:53 And oftentimes I think that we as people in this broken, sin sick world lose track of this idea. I mean, think about it. How often do you associate, especially a negative emotion, a negative circumstance with God creating it? Probably not that often.
07:10 You may ask God to deliver you from it. You may be frustrated about it. But it’s all created by God.
07:21 Right. And you say, well, Brother Clark, why would God create these things that are challenging? Well, that’s a good question. I would have to say if in a sentence to draw us closer to him, to draw us closer to him.
07:41 So right now, as this is being recorded, as I mentioned, we’re in the holiday season, Christmas season. I hear a lot of people talking about how that could be a stressful time.
07:51 And certainly as a parent, it seems to be stressful time.
07:57 I don’t remember it that way as a little child, but I do now think it is stressful. And we deal with these certain emotions. We deal with these certain things that we go through oftentimes in an unproductive and not a spiritual sense.
08:12 We deal with them kind of on a carnal worldly level where we say, oh, I’m just stressed out. Right. And someone may say, I just need to go to the gym or I just need to listen to some music or just go hang out with friends or whatever it may be.
08:27 But, you know, maybe we need to look a little deeper and say, God, you created all things. Even the adversity in my life, you have allowed and you are the creator. I mean, he’s a creator of everything.
08:39 So, God, why? Why is this here? Could it be to draw me to you? Could it be to sober me up? And I don’t just mean sober you up if you’ve been drinking. I mean, sober you up as in kind of wake you up from being lulled to sleep in the ways and things of this world.
08:56 And so God in his majesty, in his poetic way, said, I’m going to create the world and I’m going to allow the world to have multitudes of distractions and issues and so forth that the world has to account for each day.
09:13 And those that will seek me, I will answer those that will seek me. I will reveal myself to them. And I’ve always heard the Bible being called a progressive revelation.
09:25 The idea that as we seek the Lord, oh, how he opens our hearts and our minds to his word and his character. And conversely, as we don’t seek the Lord, as we forsake the Lord, oh, how we get afar off from him and how our conscience is like seared.
09:40 We’re just living in this reprobate, worldly mentality where we don’t even know what we’re saying or how we’re living, how sinful and at odds it is with a true and holy God.
09:54 You see, it helps us to understand that Jesus Christ is sovereign because I think there’s a narrative even in the church that, oh, woe is me and oh, the flesh got me or the devil got me or whatever it is.
10:06 You have to take a step back and say, wait a minute. You know what? What is this about? You know, the whole idea that I would say is oftentimes our faith is proven through challenges.
10:19 You know, if I had a friend, it’d be real easy for me to be friends with them if they were doing a lot for me and I was benefiting from that friendship.
10:30 Let’s say I had a friend that owned a pizza restaurant and I would visit that friend and every day that friend would give me pizza. And I was so proud to call him a friend because he was giving me pizza every day, right? Well, let’s say his pizza shop closed.
10:40 And let’s say that he developed a sickness that not only was debilitating but made him really angry. Now, all of a sudden, it’s not that easy to be his friend. And let’s say there was 10 people that was his friend when he had the pizza restaurant.
10:56 How many are still standing around when everything goes bad? If you want to see a biblical example, you can look at the book of Job and what his so-called friends did with him once tragedy struck him.
11:05 They basically blamed him. The modern term I think you would hear would be victim shaming or victim blaming.
11:12 Job hadn’t done anything wrong and they said, oh, you are such a sinner. You’re a lousy person. That’s why all this happened to you.
11:19 And God not so subtly tells Job, you need to pray for these people because I’m not really pleased with their answers because they were wrong. So God himself helps us understand they were wrong. But that is the character of most people.
11:33 They’re there with you when the times are good and they’re nowhere to be found when the times are not good. And Jesus Christ is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Jesus Christ shows himself more and more in hard times.
11:48 You know, he’s an ever-present help in times of trouble. And that’s scripture. And what does that mean? That means that the Lord wants us to understand his character, right?
11:58 How can we understand his character if we never endure or go through hard times, right? Psalm 46:1. That’s what I was looking for.
12:09 Psalm 46:1. I was just reading it the other day. And oh, is this so true? God is our refuge and a strength, a very present help in trouble. He is a very present help in trouble.
12:20 And so we often think that trouble came outside of God and God is there to help us deal with the trouble when what we don’t realize is God created it all. Now, he, I believe in his mercy, in his love.
12:32 I don’t think he’s singling people out to bring them trouble all the time, but he’s allowed it to occur.
12:39 Brother Adrian Rogers, I love listening to his preaching. And he’d always say, not a blade of grass moves without God’s permission.
12:47 And I thought that was such a beautiful illustration of the power and sovereignty and majesty of God that everything is in subject to God.
12:57 Brother Dr. Erwin Lutzer preached a series, a message series that I loved. I heard it, used to listen to him a lot when I was taking our oldest to school before he got his license. Now he takes himself to school.
13:07 That’s another story. That’s another message. But Dr. Erwin Lutzer had a great series called God’s Devil.
13:20 And it was all about how, yes, the devil has this power and that power. And yes, it’s tough for us to deal with, but ultimately the devil’s subjected to God, right?
13:28 And so once we understand this principle, as Colossians 1:16-20 and John 1: 1-5 tells us, God made it all. It really helps us.
13:36 It helps me, by the way, to cope with the nature of life. Sometimes if I get overwhelmed, and that’s often, amen, I will tell myself He made all things. All things are made by Him and for Him.
13:50 I’ll just kind of just wring that around my head a little bit. And that helps me to understand. It gives me context that, hey, you know what? God’s sovereign.
13:59 God’s in control. And there’s a reason certain things occur. And I believe, again, in a sentence, it’s to draw us closer to Him.
14:05 I’m not going to spend the whole episode quoting other preachers, but I did hear one, and I honestly can’t remember who said it, but one preacher said 99% can deal with poverty, but only 1% can deal with prosperity, something to that extent. And I think that’s true. Amen.
14:25 That’s true. So we have poverty. We have challenges.
14:31 We have emotions. They all draw us to God because all things are made by Him and all things are made for Him. Amen.
14:36 And as we go through this four-part series we look deeper as Why God is so sovereign and how to help us.
14:42 Thank you listening. Take care and God bless. Amen